Black Beauty
Recommended. Age: 10+. A Catholic review of this book for parents.
Our review
Sewell wrote this to make people kinder, and it works. Beauty meets grooms and cabmen who do right when no one is watching, and the book says plainly that cruelty to God's creatures is sin. Sunday rest and sobriety get real attention. The one reservation is the suffering: horses are whipped, burned and shot, and a drunk groom dies.
For parents
Read aloud from 8 with a tender child in mind, independent reading from 10. Common Sense Media says 10 and up. Ask why the good characters keep Sunday as a day of rest. Ask what we owe animals God put in our care (CCC 2416 to 2418).