The Georges and the Jewels, by Jane Smiley

                Abby Lovitt is growing up on a California horse farm in the 1960’s.  She helps her dad care for and train the horses daily.  They call all the geldings George and the mares Jewel.  Abby’s dad says this is so they don’t get too attached to the horses.  He doesn’t like the horses to stay on the farm for longer than six months or else they start to lose money.  Abby’s relationship with the horses is tested when she meets a horse she calls Ornery George.  Ornery George bucks her off every time she rides him and questions her father’s saying that “every horse I own is gentle enough for a little girl to ride.”

                Along with Abby’s trials with Ornery George she must also navigate her way through seventh grade.  This journey is made more difficult by her families’ strict religious views.  Her parents do not allow television or rock and roll music.  Abby also has to cope with the difficulties involved in not belonging to the “popular crowd.”  All these stresses come to a head at an open house displaying a class project.

                Jane Smiley is an award winning author of adult fiction.  Her novel A Thousand Acres won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992.  Smiley gives Abby a clear fresh voice that offers insight into her friends at school and the horses on the farm.  Abby learns many lessons in how to solve life’s problems by paying attention to the horses’ subtle cues and attitudes towards each other.