Phoenix

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Growing up is a bumpy ride. The first book in a fresh, uplifting series about a young girl learning to find joy again through the love of an unexpected horse-from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The War That Saved My Life and Fighting Words. "Not just for horse lovers; it is for anyone navigating major life changes and grappling with learning to forgive." -School Library Journal Harper's life has just exploded. Her parents are getting a divorce. And she suspects her best friend, Cat, may have known the reason for it long before she did. Now Harper and her mom are starting over in a cramped house, in a new town, where everything feels unfamiliar, including the riding barn next door. Harper's never been around horses before. And no, she does not want to learn to ride- Until a truck dumps a starved and neglected horse right in Harper's yard. Harper has no idea what to do with a live horse, let alone a nearly dead one. But one look at this horse's huge eyes and skinny body, and something inside Harper unlocks. The horse is named Phoenix, she decides. And she will not give up on him. Neither, it turns out, will Phoenix give up on her. She doesn't know it yet, but this is Harper's first step-toward new friends, new challenges, new adventures. Toward riding. From two-time Newbery Honor-winning author and bona fide horse lady Kimberly Brubaker Bradley comes a beautiful and authentic horse series, sure to transport any reader who's ever felt lost and wished to be found.

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley grew up horse-obsessed in a tragically non-horsey place and family. When she was eighteen and went to college, she took the reins in her own hands and hasn't stopped riding since. Kim foxhunted, competed at mid-amateur levels of eventing, and was the longtime "Boss Mare" of the Holston Pony Club for kids in her Tennessee hometown-a big part of her inspiration for this series-all while she was busy writing Newbery Honor-winning novels like The War That Saved My Life and Fighting Words. Kim is a fierce advocate for horses and the value of the human-horse connection. This is the horse-kid series of her heart.