National Velvet Book and Charm [With Charm]

by Enid Bagnold

Book Overview

"Put on your not-to-be-missed list." -- The New Yorker Her mother calls it "a breathtaking piece of folly," but fourteen-year-old Velvet Brown is determined: every night she prays to be the best rider... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0694015792
• ISBN13: 9780694015795
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

still a favorite after 30 years

I received this book when I was 9, loved it immediately, and kept it on my bookshelf always. I'm almost 40 now and just reread it (it's one of my "comfort" books) and was once again blown away by the beauty and astonishing metaphors of Bagnold's prose. She is a lovely writer. I wish I could write as well as her. Our window into the Brown family is clear and uncluttered; we get to watch as the girls relate to each other, speak in their own family shorthand, deal with their similarities and differences. I adore the way the family accepts each other - each with their own quirks and peculiarities. Velvet, with her profound love of horses and her very 14-year-old imagination. Merry immersed in the world of canaries. Edwina on the brink of adulthood. Mally, Velvet's closest friend, sharing candy bars and secret plans. I was such a girl myself, with my own imaginary stable of mounts... but my appreciation of the book goes beyond a recognition of similarity; Enid Bagnold simply writes with a sophistication few writers for young adults share... with no condecension and no need for explanation.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

When I first started reading this book,I soon grew bored with all the "getting to know the Browns",so I stopped reading it. I t was just recently that I picked this book up on a shelf in the tack room and actually finished it. It was so great!!! It was much more exiting further on in the book. I highly reccomend it! I loved it so much I read it out loud to my pony Lucky,and at the end of each chapter,he made a little wuffle as though to say "don't stop reading!" If you love horses,steeple chasing,or just a good story,then you need to read this book! If you have seen the movie and think you know the story,then I have news for you! The book is NOTHING like the movie! But it's up to you to find out how. Hurry up and read this book! You'll love it!

wow!

"National Velvet" is the story of the literaly ugly duckling of the Brown family. Velvet has three older sisters (Edwina, Meredith, and Malvolia) and a younger brother named Donald. her mother, Arminity, swam the English Channel as a young girl, and has the opinion that none of her daughters should be weak characters.Mi Taylor, her father's hired hand becomes Velvet's coach (as his father was to Arminity)when Velvet inherits five horses and then wins a Piebald carthorse in a village raffle. When Mi and Velvet see how well the Piebald can jump, Velvet decides to enter him in the Grand Nationals. Velvet dresses as a boy(no girls were allowed to compete)and rides in the Nationals. This book was really good- it showed how a person can do almost anything if they set their mind to it!

An excellent book on the courage of one child's dream!

National Velvet is a natural treasure. It shows the courage and in the innocense of children to believe that things can happen. My, if adults only listen to their hearts more than they do the polls, the world would be a better place. In spite of others had to say, Velvet believe that it could happen. I plan to rent the video to view Elizabeth Taylor's magnificent performance. This is a treasure for both men and women. Every body should read it. Kudos