The historical fiction novel King of the Wind by Margit Henry tells about a boy and his horse that come to England to improve their breed of horses. In the beginning, an Arabian slave boy has a horse that dies giving birth to a colt named Sham. Sham turns out to be very fast, so he is sent to England to improve their breed of horses. When Sham and the boy, Agba, get there they are turned down. So, they find shelter at a nearby inn. The maid is kind and feeds him and teaches him to read. However, the owner is mean and steals Sham and when Agba tries to steal him back, he gets sent to jail. Some stable owners buy Agba free and let him stay at the stable. At the stable, Sham mates with another horse and has three sons that win loads of races and bring glory to Sham.
The theme of the story is that friends don’t always have to be humans. I think this because Agba and Sham have such a great bond. I think this because Sham will buck off anyone who tries to ride him unless it is Agba. Agba shows his love for Sham both by caring for him when he is a foal and by trying to steal him back when the inn keeper steals Sham. Lastly, another one of Agba’s friends is a cat named Gremlick. She proves her friendship by fallowing them around.
A connection I have with the story is that I use to have a pet cat that was a good friend of mine. Though we did not have the special bond that Agba and Sham had in the story, we were still good friends. My last reason for thinking this is that tons of kids have dogs that are good friends.
The author’s viewpoint is that good friends aren’t always humans. I think this is a well written book. I’d recommend this to anyone!
