Betty Levin
A Binding Spell
F Dutton, New York, 1984, 179 pp.
Lodestar 1984, cover art by Elise Primavera
Wren senses life stirring the first time she enters the barn, but then strange things
start happening at the farm,
where she and her brothers are stasying. An animal shatters
a window, a white mist forms itself into the shape of
a horse, and hoofprints mark
sheets dragged off the clothes line. The mysterious horse has something to do with
Axel,
an old man who lives in a nearby boarded up house. Wren befriends Axel, and eventually
uncovers the
secret of the horse,
Gift Horse
Greenwillow Books, New York, 1996, illus Jos. A. Smith, 168 pp.
(pictorial boards covered with identical dustjacket)
Scholastic, pb
Matt’s great uncle promises to send him a horse, but when it appears, it turns life
upside down. His parents
don’t think he can keep the horse, but Matt is determined,
and joins with his brother and friends to outwit the
grown-
Betty Levin is best known for her fantasy stories. She was the only animal lover in her family, and after a visit to a sheep farm at the age of 11, discovered the magic of working collies. After she married, she and her husband Alvin, bought a sheep farm, and Betty bred and trained working sheepdogs, which she took to trials. Her stories often involve animals, though only two are horse stories. When she was a child, she stayed on a farm with her family during holidays, and met an Irish girl called Kitty. Kitty told her tales of Irish myths, and these formed the basis for several of Betty Levin’s books.
Betty Levin taught at the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College in Boston, iis married and has three daughters.
Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for all her help with this section.
Finding the books: both books are reasonably easy to find. Neither title was published in the UK.
Sources and links:
Dustjacket of A Binding Spell
More biographical information on Betty Levin
Bibliography -
