For what it’s worth, I think you could stop reading after the third book and not miss a thing.īut the first three books aren’t to be missed. The protagonist isn’t a relatable child, but a grown woman whose horses feature more prominently in the story than her kids do.īut the greatest loss, I think, is that rather than setting us on the ground alongside the characters, where we experience things as they do, the narrator of this book hovers somewhere above the characters, so we’re only allowed to watch the characters act out the story without so much as a whiff of salt water for us. Most of it isn’t set on Chincoteague (a loss) and doesn’t have a Beebe in it anywhere (a greater loss). My daughter enjoyed this one, so I can’t fully toss it out, but the fourth and final book in the series was written thirty years after the others. I will include one note about the last book, Misty’s Twilight.

Henry doesn’t skim over the sense of loss and sorrow a storm like that leaves in its wake, but the story itself is hopeful, and as we read it during the first few weeks of quarantine, my daughter and I took comfort in watching the Beebes emerge from such a severe trial unbroken and hopeful. In it, Chincoteague faces a devastating storm. Though I loved the first two books, the third, Stormy, Misty’s Foal, was my favorite. Chinoteague and Assateague Islands are as much characters in the story as the Phantom, or Misty, or the Beebes themselves. Marguerite Henry fills each book with physical details so vivid you feel you’re running on the sand, in the sea spray with Paul and Maureen. That’s the premise of Misty of Chincoteague, and the series just gets better from there.

This year, it’s finally Paul’s turn to join the “pony penning,” and he and Maureen have their hearts set on not just any horse, but the wild and elusive Phantom-a mare known for escaping the riders year after year. Paul and Maureen Beebe live on Chincoteague Island, where they train and sell wild horses with their grandparents (I’d argue those grandparents are among some of the most lovable in children’s literature).Įvery year, riders from Chincoteague venture to neighboring Assateague Island, where they round up some of the island’s wild horses and bring them back to Chincoteague to sell. I’d love it, she said.įrom the way Marguerite Henry describes the sandy beaches of Assateague Island to the beauty and fury of the island’s wild horses, I loved everything about Misty of Chincoteague. I couldn’t keep the book, she explained, but I had to read it.

When we celebrated my birthday last month, I opened one daughter’s gift and found a book tucked in it alongside her present.

Misty of chincoteague 1947