[CALIBK12] Richie's Picks: HIGHWAY ROBBERY

[BudNotBuddy at aol.com]

Richie's Picks: HIGHWAY ROBBERY by Kate  Thompson, Greenwillow, June 2009, 
117p., ISBN: 978-0-06-173034-4
 
"Round the corner he came, a tall rider on a big black horse,  and the pigs 
and chickens cleared the road in double-quick time to get out of  his way.  I 
stepped back myself, sir, even though I was already out of the  road, and I 
squeezed myself tight against the wall.  Still he came on, at  full tilt, his 
black cloak streaming in the air behind him and now I could see  his face, his 
cheeks red from the cold and his mustaches as black as the black  horse under 
him.
"He didn't look at me at all as he came on, but I saw his eye  fix on 
something beside me.  The alleyway, I think it was.  And just  as he drew level, he 
straightened in the saddle and reined in the mare so fast  she sat right down 
on her tail in a shower of mud.  Some of it hit me in  the face, sir.  That's 
how close I was.
"The rider sprang off as light as a cat and pulled the reins  over the 
horse's head.  Then he marched straight over to me and put them in  my hand.  I 
gaped up at him and my mouth must have been as big as a badger  hole.  You can 
imagine, I'm sure, how astonished I was.  He was very  tall, that man, and his 
cheeks were red and he was breathing hard and there were  tear tracks across his 
face.  He looked wild and mad, sir, and I have to  admit that the sight of 
him terrified me.  
"But of course the way he looked was not because he was angry  or excited but 
because he had been traveling so fast through the icy  weather.  And indeed, 
when he opened his mouth, it was not to yell at me,  which is what I expected, 
but to say quite gently:
"'Hold the mare for me, lad.  And when I come back, I'll  give you a golden 
guinea.'
"And he ruffled my hair for me, sir.  Look.  Like  this.  Made it stand up 
like a bunch of straw.  I would have done  anything for him after that."
 
So begins the engaging tale of a grand horse as told by a  young barefooted 
beggar child to an anonymous gentleman he has  accosted on a back street.  It 
is an exceptionally fun  story wrought with danger, intrigue, and double 
crosses.  The sense of  time and place evoke Dickens and the manner in which the lad 
conveys the  story reminds one of Poe's rules for short stories (The story 
must be read in  one sitting and there must be one effect to which all of the 
action in  the story contributes.).  This exquisitely crafted first person  
narrative, in which the horse-holding lad encounters a series of  characters, 
makes for a heck of a read  aloud.  (I've already done one performance and it 
easily fits  into a block period.)
 
"'You're tempted, aren't you?'  He stepped closer to me  as he said it, and 
glanced quickly up and down the street."
 
Watch out!  You just never know who might come  charging down that road next 
(OR suddenly reappear)!
 
Richie  Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
Moderator,  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/
BudNotBuddy at aol.com
http://www.myspace.com/richiespicks


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