At twenty-six, author Walter Farley hit on a winning formula for juvenile fiction. "Farley's novels," wrote A. B. Emrys in the Journal of Popular Culture, "make the best of both romantic escapes and e...
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Walter Lorimer Farley created the Black Stallion, one of the most famous real or fictional horses of all time, over forty years ago, and that horse is still running at the head of the race. The origin...
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Critical Essay by May Lamberton Becker
A regular thriller, honest in its use of Hawaiian sports and possible submarine hideaways, ["Larry and the Undersea Raider"] begins with surfboard...
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Critical Essay by Margaret Ford Kieran
The atmosphere of the paddock is so vividly re-created [in The Black Stallion's Filly] that I found myself adding sugar lumps to my grocery list against ...
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Critical Essay by Louise S. Bechtel
In each Farley stallion story, the material has become more adult, and the style more tense and emotional. The plots are all about the same….
["Th...
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Critical Essay by Louise S. Bechtel
Your old friend, Alec Ramsay, who must be quite a man by now, is curious about Bonfire, the second son of Black Stallion [in "The Black Stallion's Su...
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Critical Essay by Marjorie Burger
Having for years faithfully followed all the fantastic feats of the famous black stallion and his owner-rider, Alec Ramsey, we find it difficult to believe that Alec...
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Critical Essay by Marjorie Burger
["The Black Stallion Mystery" is] a rather sinister story of revenge and the resurrection of a horse. This book rounds out Walter Farley's baker...
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Critical Essay by Allie Beth Martin
Walter Farley has varied his plot in ["The Horse Tamer"]…. The Black Stallion's trainer tells a story about the experiences of his olde...
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Critical Essay by Andrea Dinoto
[The title character of "The Great Dane Thor"] is the pet of a writer who lives an isolated life in the country with his wife and son, Lars. A solitary b...
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Critical Essay by Martha Bacon
I am overwhelmingly prejudiced in favor of horseflesh, and I must admit to enjoying [The Black Stallion's Ghost] immensely. It opens with a stunning description ...
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Critical Essay by Ellen Lewis Buell
For the boy in search of a wartime melodrama ["Larry and the Undersea Raider"] is just about as up to date as it is possible to find. Its time is the...
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Critical Essay by William Glick
[In "Son of the Black Stallion"] we meet the foal of the Black Stallion which, sent to Alec Ramsay by the Sheikh Abu Ja Kub ben Ishak, reveals the same s...
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Critical Essay by Margaret C. Scoggin
When Walter Farley brews a mixture of boy, horses, mysterious island, and Spanish treasure, he has fare irresistible to 10-14-year-old readers: "The Islan...
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Critical Essay by Merritt P. Allen
["The Island Stallion"] is the first of a series of stories about wild horses in a lost valley on a little-known Caribbean island. That is enough to m...
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Critical Essay by Jennie D. Lindquist
It is easy to see why Walter Farley is such a favorite with boys and girls everywhere. This enthralling book [The Black Stallion and Satan] has in it a real know...
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Critical Essay by William Clifford
["The Black Stallion and Satan" is a] nicker-a-page thriller, and all Black Stallion fans had best start looking for a quiet afternoon when they can l...
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Walter Farley
Walter (Lorimer) Farley
Critical Essay by May Lamberton Becker
