The Palamino - A Rant (Sort of )

First off, let me say that I really have no business reading The Palamino by Katy Pistole. It's a Christian-preteen-horse-story. Christian novels = haven't read too many, but if all of them are as "mushy" (for lack of a better word; I don't mean as in romance) as this one, I'm not too interested. Preteen = Well... I'm not one. Horse-stories = Been there, done that. Not really my thing anymore.

However, I did read the book when I was 12 or 13. Devoured it, really. Then my mum found the second book at the local thrift store: I read about 10 of the 19 chapters aloud to my sister before my throat went hoarse and I agreed to let her finish it on her own. We liked that one, too. Then I reread it when I was 14 and it seemed a little flatter. But it wasn't until my 11-year-old sister read it that I realized something:

It's silly.
In a fun way that I don't mind too much, but nevertheless, it's preteen fiction that's a little over-the-top sometimes.

I was walking by my sister's bedroom, and asked her how she liked the book so far. "It's pretty good," said she, marking her place, "But there sure are a lot of tears running down peoples' faces, aren't there?" I laughed, "Yeah, I guess there are." "It's like, 'Tears ran down Jenny's cheeks, tears ran down Jenny's mother's cheeks, tears ran down Jenny's father's cheeks, tears ran down Kathy's cheeks.' I'm drowning here!" I giggled and told my other sister, who also giggled.

My little sister read the second book and pointed out even more of those very active tears.

I tried to read the third book, but at fifteen... well... you know. I just couldn't bring myself to get past the first page. Maybe someday, to prove that I'm not ashamed to read Christian horse-stories. Because there's nothing really WRONG with the books: they're just... as I said, a little over-the-top.