Book : The Little White Horse - Goudge, Elizabeth

-Titulo Original : The Little White Horse

-Fabricante :

Viking Books For Young Readers

-Descripcion Original:

I absolutely adored The Little White Horse.--J.K. Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter seriesWinner of the Carnegie MedalWhen orphaned young Maria Merryweather arrives at Moonacre Manor, she feels as if shes entered Paradise. Her new guardian, her uncle Sir Benjamin, is kind and funny; the Manor itself feels like home right away; and every person and animal she meets is like an old friend. But there is something incredibly sad beneath all of this beauty and comfort--a tragedy that happened years ago, shadowing Moonacre Manor and the town around it--and Maria is determined to learn about it, change it, and give her own life story a happy ending. But what can one solitary girl do? About the Author Elizabeth Goudge was born in 1900 in Somerset, England. She is the author of many bestselling books for children and adults, including I Saw Three Ships and Green Dolphin Street. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. A terrible sound . . .In mid-gallop Maria was halted by a strange and terrible sound, a thin high screaming that came threading through the happy sounds of the wind and the crying gulls and Periwinkle’s galloping feet, and pushing into her heart like a sharp needle.She pulled in her pony and sat listening, her heart beating fast with sudden fear. Away to her right, beyond a sombre belt of pine-trees, was a deep hollow filled with gorse and blackberry bushes, and from it came the frightening sound. Somewhere down there some child or animal was being hurt. She hesitated for only a moment, and then, gulping down the fear that had come up like a hard lump in her throat, she turned Periwinkle and rode hard for the hollow beyond the pines. . . .“For imaginative readers . . . this tale will have a strong appeal. There are richness of detail and a lovely use of color and light-sunshine, moonlight, and shadows, symbolically contrasted-to catch the fancy, and a spiritual quality in this parable of greed and pride vanquished by innocence and goodwill.”-The New York Times“Fantasy and reality meet on equal terms in an exciting mystery story in which all of the characters, both humans and animals, come alive, and stay alive from start to finish.”-The Horn BookOTHER PUFFIN BOOKS YOU MAY ENJOYFive Children and It E. NesbitLinnets and Valerians Elizabeth GoudgeThe Lost Flower Children Janet Taylor LisleThe Secret Garden Frances Hodgson BurnettTime Cat Lloyd AlexanderTheLittle White HorseELIZABETH GOUDGEDedicated toWALTER HODGESWith my thanksTHE LITTLE WHITE HORSEIT was under the white moon that I saw him,The little white horse, with neck arched high in pride.Lovely his pride, delicate, no taint of selfStaining the unconscious innocence deniedKnowledge of good and evil, burden of daysOf shame crouched beneath the flail of memory.No past for you, little white horse, no regret,No future of fear in this silver forest -Only the perfect now in the white moon-dappled ride.A flower-like body fashioned all of light,For the speed of light, yet momently at rest,Balanced on the sheer knife-edge of perfection;Perfection of grass silver upon the crestOf the hill, before the scythe falls, snow in sun,Of the shaken human spirit when God speaksIn His still small voice and for a breath of timeAll is hushed; gone in a sigh, that perfection,Leaving the sharp knife-edge turning slowly in the breast.The raised hoof, the proud poised head, the flowing mane,The supreme moment of stillness before the flight,The moment of farewell, of wordless pleadingFor remembrance of things lost to earthly sight -Then the half-turn under the trees, a motionFluid as the movement of light on water . . .Stay, oh stay in the forest, little white horse! . . .He is lost and gone and now I do not knowIf it was a little white horse that I saw,Or only a moonbeam astray in the silver night.Table of ContentsCHAPTER ONE1THE carriage gave another lurch, and Maria Merryweather, Miss Heliotrope, and Wiggins once