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The Georges and the Jewels |  | Author: Jane Smiley
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy New: $5.49
as of 3/20/2010 14:32 MDT details
You Save: $11.50 (68%)
New (36) Used (13) from $4.84
Seller: gpbookdays
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 42661
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1
ISBN: 0375862277
EAN: 9780375862274
ASIN: 0375862277
Publication Date: September 8, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780375862274 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
A Pulitzer Prize winner makes her debut for young readers.
Jane Smiley makes her debut for young readers in this stirring novel set on a California horse ranch in the 1960s. Seventh-grader Abby Lovitt has always been more at ease with horses than with people. Her father insists they call all the mares “Jewel” and all the geldings “George” and warns Abby not to get attached: the horses are there to be sold. But with all the stress at school (the Big Four have turned against Abby and her friends) and home (her brother Danny is gone—for good, it seems—and now Daddy won’t speak his name), Abby seeks refuge with the Georges and the Jewels. But there’s one gelding on her family’s farm that gives her no end of trouble: the horse who won’t meet her gaze, the horse who bucks her right off every chance he gets, the horse her father makes her ride and train, every day. She calls him the Ornery George.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Terrific book, particularly (but not only) for young horse-lovers February 22, 2010
Magpie (Fort Worth, TX)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Fabulous story of a hard-scrabble stable in California, in the 1960s, where all the horses are named either George or Jewel. Seventh-grader Abby is the narrator, and what a great voice! She's the daughter of strict Christian parents, and a down-to-earth and no-nonsense young horsewoman. Along with exercising the horses, raising an orphaned foal and staying out of the way of "Ornery George," Abby deals with the "Big Four" (the "in group" of girls at school) and various other issues and adventures. THE GEORGES AND THE JEWELS had one of the most even-handed portrayals of religion in any book I have read recently. While showing the constriction of Abby's family's faith, it doesn't belittle it, nor hold it up as a good example. The pencil illustrations at the start of each chapter add tremendously to the reading experience. I will be recommending this book, and sharing it with others!
 Disappointed February 8, 2010
Mary Redfield (Florida)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I purchased this book for my grandchildren who love horses; unfortunately there was too much family dysfunction and radical religious rhetoric to risk giving it to innocent children.
In the past I have made mistakes buying books, but never have I been so outraged by the content. The constant reference to some homemade religion where, "the men" did the preaching, "there was no minister."
The little girl could not tell her parents about a school activity of building "mission" replicas at school as an assignment on learning how California was settled because of the "wrongful history of the Catholic Church."
The eldest son had been "kicked out" of the home, and his mother has to sneak around to see him. Most of the family time was spent tiptoeing around a father who was, "righteously angry or resolute in his determination or dedicated to rectifying evil."
Also racial profiling and discrimination, "Did this boy who has a Mexican name and therefore is probably Roman Catholic witness to you while you were working together? " And the final straw for me was this remark;"The thing is, the Roman Catholic Church is a great and powerful enemy. Our great and powerful enemy. It has done many things over the centuries to our people and to its own people that are not easy to speak about."
I wish so much that I could return this book and get my money back. It is so sad that religious prejudice was part of this book, I saw no way in which it enhanced the story of the horse training, which was also done at times, behind the fathers back. Definitely not a book for children.
Finally: Jane Smiley for kids! January 18, 2010
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
Seventh grader Abby Lovitt's father makes a living buying horses, re-training them, and selling them for a higher price. His most persuasive selling point is that a horse is so gentle and well trained that a kid could ride it, the "kid" being Abby, who has never minded her after school chore of riding horses until a horse called Ornery George bucks her off. Abby stands up to her strong-willed father for the first time in her life and refuses to remount, but she knows it's just a matter of time until he'll force her to face the dreaded horse.
//The Georges and the Jewels// is a touching glimpse of ranch life in California in the 1960s through eyes of an honest, impressionable protagonist. The book is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jane Smiley's first book for children and she's done a fantastic job. As in her novels for adults, in //The Georges and the Jewels// Smiley communicates harsh but true themes though subtle undercurrents. Here, she's catered to her newest readers by selecting a plotline with two elements young girls won't be able to resist: horses and a gang of four middle school prima donnas.
Reviewed by Megan Field
can't wait for a sequel November 28, 2009
corgi crazy librarian (Washington state)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The Georges are the geldings. The mares are all named Jewel. The rule is you're not supposed to get attached to them because it's a business and the horses will be sold as soon as they are looking fit and good for riding.
Abby's family buys and sells horses for a living. Now that Abby's brother has left home it's up to her to ride and train the horses so her father can say they are gentle enough for a "little girl to ride". This means she has to find a way to get along with all the horses, even the grumpy ones.
The first bit of this book made me think I was in for a grim book about a demanding, Bible thumping father and a put upon daughter, but instead it was an uplifting story with a wonderful cast of multi dimensional characters both human and horse. Abby finds a way to get along at school, at home and with the horses. I can't wait for the sequel.
Not just for girls October 6, 2009
Barbara Grossman (Brooklyn, NY United States)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Attention Grown Ups: don't be fooled by the marketing--this is a great novel from a writer who never steps twice into the same genre; miss it and be sorry.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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