The Black Beauty Bug by Donna Minton Williams

A little girl sits barefoot on a fence rail at sundown, watching a neighbor's horses. There are palominos and paints and bright red bays, but her eyes always go to the black ones. She cannot say why. She never does figure it out. She just calls it the black beauty bug, and it stays with her for the rest of her life.

The Black Beauty Bug is the true story of how 5 Daughters Ranch began. It follows Donna from that fence rail to an old copy of Black Beauty in a dusty attic, through the years she spent learning horses one patient day at a time, to 50 acres of Texas land she and her husband built up one fence post at a time. Along the way she falls for black cattle too, and the dream grows into something bigger than a ranch. It becomes a place where a child can learn what only an animal can teach.

Then comes Bryer. Barefoot, wild-haired, afraid of nothing, and pulled straight to the same black horses her Nana loved. And there is Jack, an old one-eyed gelding who was a champion once and came to the ranch thin and worn down. Jack is careful with people. With Bryer he is not careful at all. He lowers his great head to her, listens to every secret she tells him at the fence, and never breathes a word of it to anybody.

Written for readers ages 8 to 11, this is Book 6 of the 5 Daughters Ranch Series. It is a story about loving something you cannot explain, caring for an animal that depends on you, letting a good friend go with courage when his body is worn out, and handing what you love down to the next child ready to catch it.

The book includes a Guide for Teachers and Families, with discussion questions, vocabulary, and a hands-on activity for the classroom, homeschool, or bedtime reading.