Horse of the Four Winds
by
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"No way! No way! No way! No way!" Kate Garland's thoughts seemed to echo the rhythm of her bike pedals as she sped across the river bridge with grim determination. She was flat flying. All she needed was a long gray dress and a frumpy hat to be nasty old Miss Gulch racing away with Dorothy's dog, Toto, trapped in a basket behind the seat. And Kate's face looked just as mean. She gritted her teeth. "No one's selling my horse!"
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About the Book
When Kate Garland’s father is kidnapped in Mexico, she and her mother are forced to sell everything to meet the ransom demands. From spacious Fairydell Farm in Southern California’s Orange Park Acres, they must move to a small house in Riverside County and hope for Dr. Jim Garland’s safe return.
After months of anxious waiting, Kate meets mysterious Zane McAlister, the man her mother has hired to rescue her father. Kate thinks he looks like a bandito and doesn’t trust him. Is he in cahoots with the kidnappers?
And what of Tinkerbelle, her beloved Arabian mare? She is the last of the Garland purebreds. Will Kate have to sacrifice her as well?
Desperate for money, Kate finds work at a nearby riding stable that is situated on land once part of a huge Spanish grant owned by the De la Costas. There, her life becomes strangely intertwined with the history of this old Californio family in ways she couldn’t have imagined.
Do the De la Costas have the key to securing Dr. Garland’s release? Join Kate and her new friends, Maria Leon and Airyn Murdock, as her life takes one strange turn after another.
Continuing her “Summer Horse” series, award-winning author, Nancy Sanderson, has added another element to her favorite theme of girls and their horses – California history. In Horse of the Four Winds, readers will learn about the “Leather-jacket” Spanish soldiers who settled the Golden State in the 1700s and how their descendants left their mark on the state’s history.
Front cover art by Stacey Mayer
About the Author
Nancy Sanderson has written five books about girls and their horses: Summer of the Spanish Horse; Summer of the Spotted Horse; Summer of the Painted Horse; Summer of the Dancing Horse and Horse of the Four Winds. Summer of the Painted Horse won first prize for Children’s Literature in the 2010 Arizona Author’s Association Literary Competition, and Summer of the Spotted Horse took third prize in the 2005 contest. While each book is an independent story, there are many recurring people and places throughout the “Summer Horse” series. Currently working on book six, Sanderson lives in Yuma, Arizona, with her husband, Tom, her Aunt Kelly and a rescued black Miniature Poodle named Polly.