Nine-year-old Lara yearns to work with horses, but Irish girls in fourteenth-century Norman-controlled Ireland are not allowed to. These four books follow Lara's adventures with the filly Dannsair and her determination that Dannsair doesn't end up a war horse. Poor character development won't deter die-hard fans of horse stories. [Review covers these Hoofbeats titles: Lara and the Gray Mare, Lara and the Moon-colored Filly, Lara and the Silent Place, and Lara at Athenry Castle.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Gr. 4-6. The first of a new quartet of titles in the umbrella Hoofbeats series, which began in 2004 with a four books about a girl named Katie, this engaging story transports readers to medieval Ireland. Nine-year-old Lara lays a solid foundation by detailing the endless work, seasonal changes, and constant threat of interclan raids that define her life before the book's signal event launches the quartet's main story. "Girl meets horse" does not begin to encompass Lara's devotion to the foal that she delivers just before its mother dies or the foal's dependence on her as its substitute mother. Fiercely determined to protect the filly, Lara takes an unexpected path that leads her away from home and directly into Book Two, Laura and the Moon-Colored Filly, 0 published this month. Writing with a keen appreciation for everyday goings-on in thirteenth-century Ireland and an unusual ability to bring the past to life, Duey creates a convincing setting, a thoroughly likable heroine, and a strong narrative. Though the books can be read individually ( Lara at Athenry Castle 0 and Lara at the Silent Place0 will be published in March and April, respectively), they are less like sequential novels than like one grand story divided into four parts. Excellent fare for historical fiction fans and, of course, for girls devoted to horse stories. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2005 Booklist