Chancey of the Maury River

by Gigi Amateau Narrated by J.D. Jackson

Overview

On the night Chancey is born, a "fire star" gallops across the sky. But many years of hardship will pass before the orphaned albino Appaloosa can believe the prophecy his dam foretold-that his "fire star" was a beacon for a horse of profound wisdom and extraordinary potential, one who will eventually change the lives of two children forever. Told through Chancey's eyes in the classic tradition of great horse stories, here is a tale about bravery, destiny, and hope-and about sharing the magic of a second chance.

“Injects a dose of modernity into the old hard-luck horse story...Delightful.” -The Chronicle of the Horse

“The horse story is revived to magni?cent effect in this moving novel.” -The Horn Book

“Many details about equine behavior and horsemanship lend authenticity...A highly enjoyable read.” -School Library Journal

“Earnest, heartfelt, and uplifting.” -Voice of Youth Advocates

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 4-8- On the night that Chancey is born, a comet streaks across the sky, a sign that a horse of great beauty and wisdom has been born. However, it seems unlikely that the Appaloosa will fulfill this prophecy. He is albino and his lack of pigmentation is not only considered unattractive, but also leads to serious health problems. He works as a school horse for many years, teaching children how to ride, but when his owner has a financial crisis, Chancey is left in a field and neglected for months, before finding a new life at Mrs. Maiden's Maury River Stables. In his old age, Chancey learns to love and trust again as he bonds with his new rider, Claire, a girl who has also suffered loss. When his deteriorating eyesight makes it impossible for him to jump in competition, he embarks on a new career as a therapy horse. He and Claire meet a young boy who has terminal cancer, and they work together to give Trevor the experience of being a champion. Narrated by Chancey, the novel has many details about equine behavior and horsemanship that lend authenticity, although there are a few awkward moments when these descriptions interrupt the flow of the narrative. However, the story is compelling, and the chapters about Chancey's work as a therapy horse are particularly moving, especially the one relating the culmination of his work with Trevor. A highly enjoyable read.-Kathleen E. Gruver, Burlington County Library, Westampton, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

There's a reason Black Beauty has been abridged so many times: The language of the original is old-fashioned, stilted and frankly boring. Chancey, who often seems to be channeling his old mentor Beauty, suffers from the same problem, though happily his story is serviceable. Once past the confusing beginning, in which Chancey, destined for greatness, is abandoned in a field, the story finds not one heart but several: Claire, a sad and lonely child; her understanding mother; Trevor, a child dying of cancer; and finally Chancey himself, who learns his purpose in the world while gradually succumbing to blindness. The antiquated cadences of Chancey's voice, which offers such jarring sentences as, "Drawing upon my Appaloosa genetics, I calmly accepted the discomfort, for I knew that no one around me wished me any harm," confers in the end a kind of touching dignity to the story. The question is whether readers will make it that far. (Fiction. 10-14)

School Library Journal - Audio

12/01/2013
Gr 4–8—On the night horse Chancey is born, a shooting star blazes across the sky. His dam explains that the "fire star" foretells a life destined for beauty, wisdom, and greatness. Told in the tradition of some of the best horse stories of all time, Amateau's tale (Candlewick, 2008) of love and loss is shown from the horse's point of view. Chancey becomes a school horse, teaching students how to jump, but when his owner's financial difficulties lead to a trip to the auction and then abandonment, he seems destined for a life of hardship. Chancey ultimately begins anew: first with a young girl who works to heal his physical wounds as he soothes her deep psychological scars, and later as a therapeutic riding horse. Amateau does a stellar job of describing the healing bond that develops between horse and human in this beautiful tribute to the comforting power of animals. Young enthusiasts will savor the extraordinary view into the thoughts of a horse. Details of barn life enrich the story. Narrator JD Jackson easily transitions between characters and captures Chancey's indomitable spirit. Purchase where there is a demand for horse stories.—Lisa Hubler, Charles F. Brush High School, Lyndhurst, OH

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169874532
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	08/06/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER ONE- Prophecy

Tonight, the moon was high and full; it cast a light so pure that all fell quiet and still under its watch. Even I felt its pull.

A fire star raced across the winter sky, causing quite a stir among us. The younger ones were afraid and ran to their mothers. I no longer feared the wild streak, as I had in my youth. Instead I dropped my head and gave thanks for a long and good life lived here by the Maury River and in these blue mountains. I gave thanks, too, for the friends who have stood beside me through these many years.

When I was still a colt, I once saw a fire star with such a fury that it scared me greatly. I thought it was coming straight for me. I raced to the corner of our field and, unable to find my dam, became filled with an anxiety so invasive that I began to breathe too fast and thus found no breath at all. But I was in no danger. My dam came to me. She wrapped me in her neck, and I was no longer afraid.

My dam explained that when a horse of great beauty or wisdom enters the world, a star chosen especially for that horse lights across the night sky, announcing the new arrival. Dam told me that we should not fear the fire stars; instead we should drop our heads and say a word of thanks for life's many blessings. Dam allowed that occasionally the blaze is so bright and so near that it is frightening, as most things are if you don't understand them. She encouraged me then, and on many such occasions, to seek understanding in all things. I have remembered this for my whole life and only rarely do I feel afraid. When I do, I try to remember Dam's words, then find my breath, and examine that which frightens me.

After that night, I sought out fire stars in the sky. Most nights, I did not see any at all. Sometimes, in the late summer, it seemed that the night held so many that I quickly lost track and would fall asleep watching them, still standing in the field.

"Was there a fire star on the night I was born?" I often asked Dam.

Each time I asked, she would pull me in to her and recount the story of my birth.

"Oh, yes, Chancey. On your night, a star raced across the sky with such brilliance that all present knew you would grow beautiful, wise, and great. Something very special is planned for you."

For years, I believed her; I held tight to Dam's faith that I would become a great horse.

My owner, too, had grand hopes of me. She had planned that I would become a champion, and a beautiful one at that. She bred my dam, a fancy snowflake Appaloosa, to an identical stallion, certain that I would turn out the same, black as night with white snowflakes like Dam's blanketing my hind. Dam's markings were so vibrant that at her own birth she was given the name Starry Night, not for the sky under which she was born but for the way in which she was adorned with a midnight quilt of icy diamonds.

Yet I am very nearly the inverse of my stunning parents. I was born without pigment. Black stripes cut through the middle of all four of my hooves, the one physical characteristic I possess which proves to all that I am a true Appaloosa. Despite my lack of pigmentation, I believed my dam. I believed greatness awaited me.

Here now, in my old age, I comprehend what I could not before comprehend. I understand now that mothers are apt to wish on stars; every mother prays to heaven on behalf of her child. Sometimes, it seems that a mother's prayers for her child will never be answered at all. Yet is it not possible that one day, when that child is very, very old, he might see that his mother's prayers have been perfectly, beautifully answered all along?

CHAPTER TWO- Horse for Sale

That I had never been sold away was a blessing of immeasurable comfort. I had lived my entire life as a school horse here in this valley. Friends had come and gone, yet my comforts remained constant: the Blue
Ridge Mountains, the Allegheny Mountains, and the Maury River all surrounding me. These mountains, all blue to me, were home.

I was grateful, too, that I had lived a life of service under the care of a decent-enough owner. I had seen cruel hands on others enough that I was deeply aware of my privileges. Though throughout much of my life I
longed for something more—the greatness, perhaps, that my dam foresaw—I was content to have been treated fairly. My fortune changed, however, when my owner's fortune changed overnight.

The day before had ended the same as most days. We were led to our rooms, given our grain, and the barn was closed up for the evening. But the next morning, no one came to feed us. By the time the sun had moved high into the sky, we all were hungry and panicked. We kicked our doors until finally some of the students arrived to feed us and turn us out.

Monique, the proprietor of the stable and my owner, did not show. That was the first day since my birth that I had not seen her. Though I did not love Monique, I depended on her.

The students who came in her place spoke in hushed tones and whispered of the terrible and sudden death of Monique's husband. These whispers also spoke of a debt incurred by the dead man, a debt so enormous that it might force Monique out of her fine brick home and off of several hundred mountainous acres. In the second it took her husband to release his final breath, Monique had been stripped of her status as a wealthy and privileged landowner. There was no recourse left for Monique but to sell everything, including us horses, so that she could return to her native land, a country so far away that she planned never to return to the blue mountains.

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CHANCEY OF THE MAURY RIVER by Gigi Amateau. Copyright © 2008 by Gigi Amateau. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Somerville, MA.

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