From School Library Journal Grade 5-9-Horse-crazy Gray, 13, is drawn to a strange new boy who calls himself Chav. She sees him riding a beautiful black stallion, follows its trail, and learns that he is living on his own with his younger brother and sister. When the children become ill, Gray and her aunt (with whom she lives) take them in, but Chav is afraid to open up to them. He has run away from his rich, white father whose abuse killed his mother, and he clings to a romantic ideal of returning to the Gypsy life his mother once led. He doesn't want to trust non-Gypsies, but Gray and her aunt are weakening his defenses. His anger and confusion mount until he decides to kill the boys from school who have teased him and then commit suicide. Gray intercepts him and he breaks down and confides his fears. Springer makes these characters and their troubled lives convincing. Glimpses of Chav's thoughts written in his journal punctuate Gray's first-person narrative. Romantic young readers will be as fascinated as she is by the Heathcliff-like Chav and his confused siblings. While the ending is a bit too tidy, this is a satisfying and often compelling story with vivid, memorable characters. It's more of a psychological than sociological novel and should appeal to horse-story fans and problem-novel readers alike.
