My son and I read The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion Returns, and Son of the Black Stallion.
Those three books had a chronology that was easy to follow.
Then we read The Island Stallion, because it was the fourth book Farley wrote, and it introduced a new cast of characters and a new horse.
Now, because it was the next book in a boxed set I’d bought, we’re reading The Black Stallion’s Ghost. I think Walter Farley was smoking what a lot of people were smoking in 1969 when he wrote this one. It’s weird.
But I digress. At the end of the first book, the Black goes back to Arabia and sires Satan. Now, in The Black Stallion’s Ghost, Alex is in Florida and preparing the Black to race.
In one of the books, is it explained how and why Alex once again gains possession of the Black? I’ve read the short synopses of all the Black Stallion books in the Wikipedia, but they don’t help in establishing a chronology, if there is one.
Incidentally, I thought The Black Stallion’s Ghost was the weirdest thing possible until I read this synopsis of The Black Stallion and Flame: “A plane crash leaves the Black stranded on a desert island with that other legendary Farley stallion - Flame. Their struggle for power turns into a struggle for survival when the two horses fight a deadly vampire bat. A plane wreck at sea separates Alec and the Black until the search for a rabid vampire bat leads the boy to Flame’s island sanctuary.”
Jeez. I’m so embarrased that I know this (although in my defense, not off the top of my head - it happens that I unpacked my BS books when we moved since my daughter is about to start reading - no really).
To the best of my knowledge, the proper sequence is:
The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion Returns
Son of The Black Stallion
The Island Stallion
The Black Stallion and Satan*
The Black Stallion’s Blood Bay Colt
The Island Stallion’s Fury
The Black Stallion’s Filly
The Black Stallion Revolts
The Black Stallion’s Sulky Colt
The Island Stallion Races
The Black Stallion’s Courage
The Black Stallion Mystery
The Black Stallion and Flame
The Black Stallion Challenged!
The Black Stallion’s Ghost
The Black Stallion and the Girl
The Horse Tamer**
*this one answers your question about how Alex gets The Black back
** This is a flashback story about Henry’s brother Bill.
I believe that keeps everything in sequence and stuff doesn’t happen until all the necessary prior knowledge is in place. Keep in mind that many of these stories are tangential and/or don’t require much past the first five books to make sense.
I remember reading that one when I was 8 or 10 and thinking “What in the world is going on?!”
Zakalwe left out a couple - The Black Stallion Legend and The Young Black Stallion (partly written by Farley’s son I believe). There’s also Man of War but that’s about the actual Man of War and not really a Black Stallion book.
freckafree, you think The Black Stallion and Flame is weird, you should check out the synopsis of The Black Stallion Legend; I rank the weirdness level up there with The Black Stallion’s Ghost.
Ah, here’s the synopsis from Wikipedia, "Driven out of his mind by [possible spoiler], Alec and the Black flee to the desert. There, the black stallion helps save an Indian tribe during a time of disaster, thereby fulfilling an ancient prophecy. "
It’s funny. I never developed the girl/horse thing – although someone tried to indoctrinate me early, as I do very clearly remember reading and owning a copy of Farley’s Little Black, A Pony. My older sister was the real horse fanatic, and she got my son engaged in the Black Stallion series by lending him her childhood copy, with that distinctive cover image of the stallion in silhouette.
We’ve both enjoyed reading them. They are very well written, even if there are a few over-the-top plots.
Pick up a copy of The Island Stallion Races if you want freaking weird. I mean seriously WTF pitch-the-door-in-the-trashcan absolute bewilderment weird.
The Black Stallion Legend must be the peyote one. God, how I loved those books when I was a kid. I loved and embraced their increasing weirdness.
I haven’t read most of them recently, but a few years ago I reread the first two only to realize, hey, I think these are written for high school boys, not ten year old girls. Weird.
Wow, I hadn’t thought about the Black Stallion books in ages. I think my brother and I both read them when we were in 4th and 5th grade, respectively. I think our school library only had the first three though, so we missed the weirdness. I feel cheated.
I’ll never forget the first Flame book, in the beginning when they got lost in the caves and found the skeletons of, IIRC, long-dead Spaniards. They freaked out and almost died. Then later they found there was totally an easy way to get in, whoops. Anyway, it creeped me the hell out as a kid.
Personally, of everything I read as a kid (I “outgrew” [in my own callow opinion] them part way through the writing of them), I liked The Black Stallion’s Filly best. And I think that had more to do with the “underdog overcomes impossible odds” theme than anything else.
Yeah, Henry cured her with the hot potato trick. Also, she wouldn’t break from the gate (or enter it at all even, after her tail got smushed). And had been taught to rear for treats.
Black Minx. My favorite of all the Black’s progeny, dire little witch that she was.
I liked this one the most, too. Other than the original first one, perhaps.
I haven’t thought about these in a long time. I’m not even sure I have a copy anymore; if I do, it would be at my parent’s house somewhere. I did come across Black Beauty a while ago, though.
