Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

Blue Skies West

Homeschool Review Crew

Appaloosy Books

I’m sure by now you know that we’re huge readers in our house.  All of my children love to read, I love to read.  Our house is literally covered in shelves and books anywhere we can manage.  We’ve loved everything we’ve read from Appaloosy Books and could not wait to try Blue Skies West thanks to the Homeschool Review Crew. 

About the Book

We received a paperback copy of the book.  It is written by Mattie Richardson.  Blue Skies West is 140 pages long.  It has 12 chapters plus an epilogue. This book is the newest release in the Horses in History Series (book five).  

Mattie Richardson has been writing for several years now.  Her first book was published at the age of 16.  I want to add here that I met the author at a local homeschool conference and enjoyed getting to chat with her.  She’s very knowledgeable about the subjects of her book and takes the time to learn more.  In fact, in this book, she has a bibliography that would be a great jumping-off point for any child wanting to learn more!

This book takes you on a journey west through the eyes of Blue.  Blue is a gorgeous horse that I’m assuming is a dapple or blue roan(we’re horse people and the grays are my favourites).  He’s off on the Oregon Trail with his boy Charlie.  They leave Iowa which is fun because we’re close to there.  Our family love historical fiction and this book fits in perfectly. 

Side Note

Because I do a lot of book reviews I want to make sure that everyone knows that this book is not labelled as Christian fiction or Christian.  However, it is a morally sound book.  There is no questionable content within the book.  I would not say that it teaches any values or moral lessons though.  It is really just a clean historical fiction that I feel fine letting my children read.  We have read all of this author’s books and have loved them. 

Our Thoughts on Blue Skies West

I’ve said it above, but I’ll say it again.  We loved this book.  We have read and enjoyed all of this series of books by Mattie Richardson.  They’re wonderful examples of historical fiction and she’s a great example to children of following their dreams and making them a reality.  With her first book being published at the age of 16 she definitely can be said to have worked for her dreams!

This was such a fun book to read.  All of my fluent readers read through this book on their own.  But we also read through it together as a family.  My kids all loved it!  Our age range is ages 17 down to 1.  Of course, the 1-year-old didn’t stay around for all the readings but she did love pointing out the horse on the cover.  She loves her neigh neighs for sure. 

Going west with Charlie and Blue was a great time.  I think this book would be a great basis for a unit study that focuses on going west and the history of it.  There are a lot of other books that would go well with it.  I highly recommend you read this one!  It will have you doing some minor nail biting with the train robbers as well as feeling moments of pride.  

You will fall in love with the characters and the writing!

Learn More

To learn more about Blue Skies West please go to the Main Blog Post on the Homeschool Review Crew and read all of the reviews linked up there.  Appaloosy Books can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.