Alexandria’s Book Review
Riding Freedom by Pam Muñoz Ryan For Ages 9-12 144 pages
Scholastic Paperbacks September 1, 1999
am Muñoz Ryan was born in Bakersfield, California, and frequently “used her imagination to fight off boredom,” the best- known foundations and indications of a writer-to-be. After getting a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at San Diego State University, she was ready to begin writing some of the best and most riveting children’s stories to date.
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Riding Freedom was one of my many favorite books as a young kid. To me it was the best story of overcoming the odds I’d ever read—and it featured a female lead, which was rare and appreciated. Charlotte’s journey away from her roots and her success in the world of men always left me cheering, no matter how many times I read it.
The heroine, Charlotte Parkhurst, is the only girl in an orphanage full of boys—and she can tell anyone who asks that it’s not always an advantage. It is the mid-nineteenth century, and she is expected to cook, clean and do all the other things a girl in the west should do—and she hates every last chore. Charlotte would much prefer spending her time with the horses in the stables, grooming and
talking to them and especially riding them. For as long as she can remember, she has felt a kinship with horses that allows her to do everything from beating the boys in the regular horse races to learning the story of how the ones she knows were named— particularly a special sorrel mare named Freedom. It isn’t long before Charlotte’s life is turned upside down, and freedom is greatly wished for. Her only friend Hayward is adopted before her, shattering their dreams of owning a ranch together someday. Freedom becomes very sick. And there’s no way Charlotte can see any of the horses again, because mean Mr. Millshark has declared it “unladylike” for girls to ride horses and work in stables, and is confining Charlotte to the kitchen with the dreaded Mrs. Boyle.
Now the situation is desperate. Charlotte couldn’t sew a stitch if she tried, and what the world considers women’s work she considers boring. A kitchen would be her death, and nearly has been before. But in a world where women are expected to keep quiet and keep house, how in the world will Charlotte achieve her dreams of owning a stable full of horses of her own?
I highly recommend not only this book but also the others by Ryan, including Esperanza Rising and Becoming Naomi Ryan, another book I reviewed.
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