At the beginning of chapter 12, Joey starts describing his view of war and how this task compares to his previous. This job that he has now is about the same as far as difficulty but the conditions are worse than before. There is less food and less care for them. Topthorn became sick and Joey became worried but then the next morning all was well. The conditions were so bad that they had to have a vet come in and examine the horses and give them the okay.
Chapter 13 is the start of spring and Joey describes how things are different and much better than they were in the winter. Topthorn and Joey gained a new friend and care giver, "Crazy Old Friedrich." as time went by Friedrich became closer to Topthorn and would care for him and Joey. Towards the end of the chapter, Friedrich asked if he could be a rider of Topthorn. To which they laughed but they agreed.
I thought that this section we read was interesting. The horses went through alot in just three chapters. It shows that the novel has to move quickly to keep the interest of middle school aged students. In chapter 11 they are leading a more normal life, I think this encourages the reader that war is not always bad and that there is normal life going on outside of the war. In chapter 12, it is back to a negative feeling and atmosphere. This shows a completely different aspect of war causing the reader to grasp that sometimes bad does happen and it is something we face and accept in life. Finally in chapter 13 the novel starts to look up again. I liked this chapter the most because it was easily comparable to the previous parts we've read. The horses are fallen in love with again and because of this, their life betters for the time. But considering the pattern we have been experiencing so far, it is only likely that some downfall is to come in the next chapter.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chloe, I think that these chapters are important because they help show that there were people still living in the areas around where battles were going on, and those people were affected in a variety of ways. I rather liked the role reversal of Joey taking care of Topthorn, after everything that Topthorn had done to comfort Joey in the previous chapters. I also liked hearing about the other horses, because although prior chapters mentioned that there were other mounted soldiers, they never really gave any descriptions of their horses. Since the book is written from a horse's perspective, you'd think that they'd develop the other horses as characters a bit more. Also, horses are herd animals, so I think it's good that Joey and Topthorn have each other, and also have the 4 other horses that are with them on their new team.
ReplyDeleteThese few chapters really provided more insight for middle school students.. They are able to see the ups and downs of WWI from a horse's life to get a glimpse of reality. I think my favorite part of this reading was when Joey cared for Topthorn when he was feeling weak. It was so sweet to imagine horse's friendships. I really hope the horses can go back to Emilie's farm soon.
ReplyDeleteJoeys situation changes in almost every chapter of this book. I sometimes forget that these chapters are over a long period of time because there is constant change. However, by changing as much as it does it really shows all sides of war. We see solider on both sides and common people affected by the war. I don't feel like Joey and Topthorn will even see Emilie again and I am starting to worry that Joey and Albert will never meet up again.. My only hope is that since it is just a story they will reunite.
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