Jessica Meseck

Dear Bill Wallace,

Your book Beauty really relates to my life.  I had a horse named Dolly.  She was as black as midnight except for a white stripe down the middle of her face.  She was my best friend.  One day my mom and I went down to my grandparent’s house to feed all of the other horses.  Dolly was lying on the ground and she was, like, drooling.  My mom managed to get her up and walk her around because my mom knew she had colic.  Mom had seen it so many times before.  Meanwhile my dad went to get her a shot to get her going again.  My mom and I went home for wait for dad.  When he got back we went to my grandparent’s house but it was too late.  Dolly was lying there, lifeless.  My mom and I burst out into tears.  Mitch and Kaydee, my younger brother and sister, were too young to understand.  My dad said she probably twisted a gut.  That definitely didn’t help the way I felt.  There my five year old pony lay.
   
Like in the book, after Beauty died, people kept trying to get the boy a horse but he wouldn’t let them.  Same here.  I was so sad about losing my best friend that I didn’t want any other horse to replace my pony, Dolly.  But like in Beauty, when people ended up buying a horse for the boy, my mom bought me a dun pony for my 6th birthday.  (A dun is like a buckskin but with more black).  We named him Bucky because when the trainers were training him he always bucked.  He is still mine, but my sister, Kaydee, rides him.  I ride a quarter horse mare whose name is Missy.
    
When I was reading Beauty I thought it was a good book, but it was sad at the end.  It made me realize that you should live your life like you were dying.  Now I am thinking of this book more than ever.  My kitten got caught in the van fan, and my hamster died of old age.  It’s sad, but I learned to move forward.  Beauty taught me to move forward.  I love books that teach you something, and this book taught me a lot.
                               
Sincerely,
Jessica Meseck