Teacher Review

The Racehorse Who Wouldn’t Gallop, by Clare Balding, is the story of Charlie Bass, a little girl who accidentally bids on a racehorse at auction, turning her family’s life upside down.

The Bass family are facing financial ruin and, unless they can turn this reluctant racehorse into a winner, they will have to leave their beloved dairy farm. Noble Warrior refuses to run without his trusty pony-pal at his side: problematic for a racehorse. But Charlie and her family work together as a team to get him ready for the race of his life.

With its terrific cast of characters - both human and animal - this is a heart-warming tale that will appeal to young readers. It’s impossible not to be cheering for Charlie and Noble Warrior by the end. It’s a new take on the rags-to-riches story which is packed full of funny moments and fascinating facts about family and farm life, as well as lots of realistic moments from the world of horse-racing.

The children in my review group felt that Clare Balding came across as a real expert in her knowledge of horses and racing, but that she explained everything at a level they could understand. Several of the children in the group said they didn’t want to stop reading this book and galloped through its pages, refusing to put it away at bedtime.

With classic story telling, humorous moments and irresistible characters, Clare Balding has taken children’s writing in her stride, and we can’t wait to read her next book. In fact, that was the children’s only complaint - they wanted the book to be longer, they wanted to know more about the characters, and they didn’t want it to end.

Curriculum links

Forging links to other areas of the curriculum is made particularly easy, as the main character makes the links for you. She explains that, distracted from her lessons, in maths class she calculated how many times she needed to canter around the field in order to cover certain distances; in biology she analysed the nutritional benefits of changing Noble Warrior’s diet; in art she drew pictures of horses galloping.

I particularly liked that her brother created a fully fledged financial schematic of all the costs of training and racing Noble Warrior. Maths in a real-world context!

Not only that, but there is also lots of room for discussion of health and wellbeing, and topics such as bullying. The children in my group were particularly captivated by this, and discussed at length the bullying that Charlie experiences at school and from her brothers. Several of the children said that one of their favourite parts of the book was when Harry and Larry stood up for their little sister against the bullies in the school playground.

This book also gently touches on the financial worries of some families, and would be a great way to discuss these concerns, too.

Kim Duffy is Primary 3 teacher at Auchtermuchty Primary School. She writes a book blog, and tweets as @BookBairn

Pupil reviews

When I got to the end of a chapter, I didn’t want to stop because it just gets more exciting! I hope there will be another book.
★★★★★
Aimee

This book deserves five gold stars and a medal! I am looking forward to reading more books by this author.
★★★★★
Greg

I thought that this was a very good book. So good that I even read it twice already! My favourite part was when Percy started to strut at the Derby - it was really funny!
★★★★★
Elena (who was caught reading the book under her desk)

My favourite part was when Percy stood on Henry’s toes - it made me laugh! I would like to keep this book for ever.
★★★★★
Kaylee

My favourite part was when Harry and Larry stood up for their sister Charlie.
★★★★★
Kieran 

If you or your class would like to write a review for TES, please contact Adi Bloom at adi.bloom@tesglobal.com

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