I am always on the hunt for good, clean, wholesome books for my kids to read. When I found the Sonrise Stable Series eight-book set, I was ecstatic. The entire series consists of eight titles all written by Vicki Watson. Each book costs $8.95, or the entire series can be purchased for $58.95, which is a very nice discount as an entire package.

These books are geared toward children ages eight through thirteen. I feel like this is an accurate age range, although truthfully, older children would likely enjoy them as well. Younger children may enjoy hearing these books read aloud. I enjoyed reading them as an adult, so really the age stipulation is just a suggestion. The entire series was written because of Vicki’s love for horses at a young age. She wrote the books to share many of her life’s lessons with young readers.

The entire series is about an extended homeschooling family. Each chapter book has an overall theme based on a scriptural principle. Throughout the series the family lives, learns, and loves together. The main characters are Rosie and Carrie. Together with their families by their sides, these girls have many heartwarming adventures. There is just enough excitement from chapter to chapter to keep the reader guessing and wanting to continue reading. Each book contains some special lesson pages in the back related to the theme of the book.

While we didn’t read the series in order, the books still made complete and perfect sense to us. There were a few times that a previous event was referenced, but enough information was given that we were able to still understand the plot of each novel. What I really appreciate is the attention given to detail in the stories as well as the additional activities in the back of each book. The discussion questions alone are valuable if you wish to use this series as a reading comprehension tool for your horse-loving children.

Sonrise Stable Book 1: Rosie and Scamper

Rosie’s horse, Jet, tragically dies while protecting her new pony, Scamper. Jet was protecting Scamper from a coyote. Carrie, the neighbor girl, begins to live with them as a foster child. Rosie learns to deal with these changes to her family and enjoys horse riding to help her cope. Even though things change, she knows her family and God still love her. The overall theme of the book is salvation. All things work together for good is the lesson that Rosie learns. The back of the novel contains a horse-drawing lesson by the illustrator of the series, Janet Griffin-Scott, as well as discussion questions.

Sonrise Stable Book 2: Carrie and Bandit

Carrie receives a horse of her own just weeks before her adoption is finalized. She quickly realizes that Bandit, her new horse, is quite a handful. He had been mistreated by his previous owner, and that makes him afraid of his new owners as well. Carrie learns some very valuable lessons about honesty. She also learns about forgiveness and unconditional love. Bandit receives a new name, and Carrie receives a new family. The back of the book contains a horse-drawing lesson by equine artist, Janet Griffin-Scott as well as discussion questions for each chapter.

Sonrise Stable Book 3: Clothed with Thunder

Rosie and Carrie are very excited at the possibility of their family purchasing a new farm. This would allow the entire family to work together in order to help each other. They would also be able to live closer to each other. This book is so well written and refutes much of the evolution that is found in non-fiction horse books. Rosie and Carrie learn important lessons about creation as the overall theme of the book focuses on God as the creator. Naturally, the back matter of this volume includes creation facts as related to horses and a website to check out.

Sonrise Stable Book 4: Tender Mercies

Unfortunately, Rosie learns the harsh truth of how cruel some people can be to animals. She and Carrie work tirelessly to help these precious creatures of God at the Last Chance Corral. Their lives are dramatically changed as they learn how much God truly loves each one of his creatures. The overall theme of this book is caring for God’s creatures. 

Sonrise Stable Book 5: Outward Appearances

The family has decided to accept boarders into their stables. As the family learns how to deal with the challenges of taking in extra horses, Rosie learns how to deal with a person that she doesn’t feel like getting along with. Grandma teaches the girls I Samuel 16:7. The girls learn that it isn’t about what a person looks like on the outside, but what is in their heart that matters to God. The back of the book contains information about caring for a blind horse.

Sonrise Stable Book 6: Follow Our Leader

Rosie and her family host their first-ever horse summer Bible camp at their stable. Everyone looks forward to the event, but they quickly run into multiple unforeseen issues; sick horses, disrespectful campers, persecution, and other minor events all threaten to ruin friendships and camps. The family perseveres and learns about discipleship and what it means to imitate Christ. The back of the book contains excellent details about colic in horses, Christian horse camps, and how to play a game called Swat.

Sonrise Stable Book 7: Rejoice with Me

In the first part of the book, Rosie and Carrie receive $200. They think they hide the money in a safe place, but eventually end up losing it. Rosie and Carrie are also heading to the 4-H fair. A new boarder named Abigail comes to the ranch. She is not very nice and thinks she will be the one to win the 4H race. How will the girls handle these conflicts? The overall theme of this book is based on the parables of Luke 15. The back section of the book includes discussion questions and information on trail rides as well as a devotional about the lost sheep.

Sonrise Stable Book 8: Operation Christmas Spirit

The children all decide to work together to produce a Christmas play depicting the birth of Christ. They learn and study joyfully together, each digging into the scripture. The theme of this volume in the series is obviously about Christmas. Other events challenge the family as well: Grandma along with Rosie and Carrie hope to purchase a pony and a cart. They choose a run-down, well-worn cart that seems somewhat useless. When it is restored, they all realize the beauty that it contains. The back of this volume contains discussion questions for each chapter.

We really enjoyed reading this wholesome series. The books are easy to read and understand, making them perfect for any horse-loving child. If I had known about these books several years ago, I would have purchased them for my daughter. I highly recommend this series if you have an eight- to thirteen-year-old who just can’t get their hands on enough horse books.

-Product review by Linda Rose, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June 2017

Another Reviewer’s Perspective:

Sonrise Stable Series
Includes:

#1 Rosie and Scamper

#2 Carrie and Bandit

#3 Clothed with Thunder

#4 Tender Mercies

#5 Outward Appearances

#6 Follow the Leader

#7 Rejoice with Me

#8 Operation Christmas Spirit

Vicki Watson

Sonrise Stable

www.sonrisestable.com

This series begins with Rosie and Scamper. At Sonrise Stable, nine-year-old Rosie dreams of the horse shows she will win with her pony, Jet. Two years later, nothing is exactly the way Rosie planned. Jet dies protecting her newborn foal, Scamper. Now, Rosie is riding a new pony and learning that life isn’t always easy. As she reaches out to Carrie, the new girl next door, she truly begins to see that God works all things together for good.

This series continues with Carrie and Bandit. Carrie is given her own horse; but Bandit is harder to manage than she imagined. Then Carrie receives the news that she is being adopted by the most loving family she has ever known; but the adoption does not go as smoothly as she hoped. When a bad decision jeopardizes everything, she learns what it means to be forgiven and truly loved.

This series continues with Clothed with Thunder. As Rosie and Carrie sit through a 4-H demonstration on the evolution of the horse, they are determined to present the arguments for creation at the next club meeting. The lessons Rosie learns about creation extend into her own life in surprising ways as she faces an old adversary, Billy King, who cheated her out of her first trophy with her pony, Scamper.

This series continues with Tender Mercies. When Rosie, Carrie, and Grandma are asked to help out at the Last Chance Corral, a horse and foal rescue, Rosie is shocked when she experiences firsthand how cruel some people can be to horses. During the week, the girls learn that God works through the kindness of others to provide for the animals He created.

This series continues with Outward Appearances. Rosie and her family open their stable for boarders. When the first boarders arrive, Rosie realized helping to run the family stable will be more difficult than she anticipated. The extra horses and work aren’t the problem: it’s one of the boarders that Rosie cannot get along with. It takes an unusual horse and an extreme race to teach Rosie that while man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart.

This series continues with Follow the Leader. The week before the family’s first summer camp at Sonrise Stable, Rosie faces several challenges; but through it all, she learns valuable lessons about following Christ, whether His path leads to the mountaintop or through the valley.

This series continues with Rejoice with Me. With the excitement of summer camp over, Rosie and Carrie work together to get their horses in shape for the state 4-H competitive trail ride. The girls are surprised to learn that Abigail, the arrogant new boarder, is also entered in the race.

The series comes to an end with Operation Christmas Spirit. When Billy King asks questions about the Christmas Story, his curiosity inspires Rosie to dive into Scripture for the answers. Together, they come up with a secret plan for a unique Christmas celebration—Operation Christmas Spirit.

The best part of this series is how Grandma uses a horse story to share Jesus’ story. Jet loved her baby so much, she gave her life so her foal could live; and Jesus loved us so much, He gave His life so we could live forever with Him in heaven. It was such a delight to read Scripture throughout this series.

This series would be great for homeschool horse lovers to use as their reading curriculum. After reading this series, I assigned a chapter daily to my fifth grader, though sometimes she would read more because she was so caught up in the story she didn’t want to put down the book, and then we would discuss the chapter’s questions located in the back of each book. Another bonus, each book includes an art lesson! Janet Griffin-Scott, illustrator of Sonrise Stable series, teaches how to draw horses of all kinds—ponies, foals, drafts, donkeys, or mules.

The Sonrise Stable series contains wholesome, heartwarming stories of an extended homeschool family as they live, learn, and love together. Mixing adventure, life lessons, and realistic horse experiences, the series is a must for readers who enjoy family values, Christian faith, and of course, horses!

-Product review by Susan Reed, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June 2017