Genre: Fantasy, Coming of age, Adventure/Search for identity
Annotation: A magical adventure of a talking horse and a boy as they journey toward freedom in the land of Narnia.
Justification for nomination: The Horse and His Boy is #3 in the series The Chronicles of Narnia. This book follows the adventures of a young boy and his talking horse as they travel from Calormen where they have been enslaved into the magical realm of Narnia. When Shasta, the main character of the book overhears the man he calls father agreeing to sell him he runs to the barn to find comfort with the animals. There he meets Bree, a talking horse from Narnia who has been enslaved in Calormen for many years. Bree and Shasta run away together with the hopes of making it to Narnia. During their travels, they meet up with Aravis, a young Calormene aristocrat escaping an arranged marriage and her talking horse Hwin who has also been enslaved in Calormen.
They journey across the desert and have many adventures along the way. During times of great duress Aslan the mighty presence of Narnia shows himself in different forms, giving the children the strength to keep moving forward.
After crossing the desert, things become rather tense as the children have learned that the Calormen's are going to invade Archenland the peaceful land that separates Narnia from Calormen. They manage to warn the king of Archenland and in the process find out that Shasta is really the long lost twin of Prince Corin (named Prince Cor). The book ends with both children and horses finding happiness in Archenland and Narnia.
This book is a great adventure story of two children on a quest for happiness and freedom from the constraints of their outward identity. By the end of the book they have all (horses included) learned their own self worth and forged great lasting friendships not to mention Shasta and Aravis falling in love...
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