Black Beauty: My Early Home

What this book practices

A shortened adaptation, in new words, of the opening chapters of Anna Sewell's 1877 novel, told by the horse himself: the meadow, his mother's advice, his breaking in, and Birtwick Park with Merrylegs and Ginger. Its theme is kindness to animals.

Level

Chapter book: Six chapters, about 165 words on a page

Themes

Classic, Animals, Kindness, Friends

After the story

A short activity checks understanding, then a prompt to tell a grown-up about the book.

Levels are PlayOwl's own design guidelines for each grade, not a certified reading level. In I'll Read, PlayOwl records that a child turned every page; it cannot hear whether the words were read.

Credit and rights

Adapted and shortened by PlayOwl from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877). Source: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877).

The words are new PlayOwl writing that follows a story in the public domain. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Adaptation

Follows the events of the opening chapters (the meadow and his mother's advice, the breaking in, and his first weeks at Birtwick Park with Merrylegs and Ginger) of Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, first published in 1877. The story is shortened and told in new sentences. The hunt, the stone-throwing plowboy and the horse's first nickname are left out, and Ginger's hard early life is told in one restrained paragraph. No edition, abridgement, film or illustrated version was copied. Public domain. In the United States, copyright in works published before 1929 has expired, and this work was first published in 1877. In countries where copyright lasts for the author's life plus 70 years, the term ended on 31 December 1948, because Anna Sewell died in 1878. PlayOwl claims no rights in the underlying story.

Cover

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit. An original design, not based on the cover or pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Illustrations

Drawn in code for PlayOwl in 2026 with the Read with Olly illustration kit, from the picture briefs in this file (an English farm, a railway meadow and a country house stable of about 1870). Original designs, not based on the pictures of any edition or film. Original work owned by PlayOwl.

Narration

Spoken by the reader's own device voice. PlayOwl ships no recording. No recorded work exists.

Text

Written for PlayOwl in 2026 as a new, shortened adaptation of the opening chapters (the meadow and his mother's advice, the breaking in, and his first weeks at Birtwick Park with Merrylegs and Ginger) of Black Beauty. Every sentence is new PlayOwl wording. The text was checked against Anna Sewell's original and reworded so that no sentence follows it. One short phrase of Sewell's is kept, from John Manly's recipe for curing a troubled horse: "patience and gentleness, firmness and petting". Apart from that phrase, only the events, the characters and their names come from the original. Original wording owned by PlayOwl. The underlying story is in the public domain (see the adaptation record).