You may remember that I love horse books, and the fact that I love age-appropriate books for tweens is practically the hallmark of this website. So I picked this up with a good feeling, despite being a little wary about the main character attending an elite boarding school. I was a little afraid that this might be the Clique, but with horses.

No need to be afraid! Young author Jessica Burkhart (she’s 22; start hating her now) has written a charming book with fleshed-out, compelling characters, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I will probably pick up the sequel in March, something I don’t often do for series of this type. (Open-ended rather than self-contained.)  When I was ten or eleven I would have devoured this book.

7th grader Sasha Silver is transferring from her public middle school to the “elite Canterwood Crest Academy,” a boarding school featuring, among other things, excellent riding opportunities including an advanced riding team that she hopes to join. Despite the warm welcome of her non-riding roommate, Sasha gets off to a bit of a bad start when a popular group of riders figures out just how good she is. Soon enough their welcoming “jokes” start to seem more like sabotage, and Sasha worries that she may not make the team through no fault of her own. Will she rise above the trouble and be judged on her own merit?

It would have been easy to fall into stereotypes with these characters, but Burkhart avoids it. Paige, the rich roommate, could have been a labels-obsessed snob and nothing more. Instead, she’s bubbly and welcoming and obsessed with…cooking. She and Sasha bond first over Sasha’s DVD sets of tv shows Paige isn’t allowed to watch at home. The unpleasant popular riders could be one-sided girls as well, but each has something deeper and more interesting about them.

Overall, this is an enjoyable read about typical seventh-grade girls who just happen to attend a boarding school (and most of whom are obsessed with riding). It’s spot-on with the age-appropriateness as well – Sasha is nuts for lip gloss, not wine coolers; she’s dealing with her first real crush, not her first sexual relationship; she’s making mistakes and putting her foot in her mouth and fumbling through friendships and trying to keep her grades up and missing her family. She’s a 7th grader, not a teenager in disguise, and you all know I love when an author nails the age range. Burkhart’s done it here, and I can recommend this book wholeheartedly.

I’m looking forward to watching Burkhart grow as an author, as well. If she’s this good at 22, in ten years she’s going to be a major contender.