Dream of Night

Heather Henson

May 2010 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Untamable. Damaged. Angry. Once full of promise and life, now lost in the shadows of resentment and detachment, this is Dream of Night's story—and it is also Shiloh’s. One is a thoroughbred racehorse, the other an eleven-year-old foster child. Starved to the bone, Dream of Night is still a very powerful animal, kicking, bucking, screaming to show his strength. Shiloh has been starved in other ways—starved of affection, starved of stability and she lashes out too…with sarcasm. This injured and abused racehorse has a lot in common with punky Shiloh and by chance they both find themselves under the care of Jessalyn DiLima—a last stop for each before the state takes more drastic measures—sending the girl to a “residential facility” and the horse to a vet...for euthanizing.

Jess is giving them a second chance, a last chance—but she fosters animals and children like this for a reason—she’s a little broken, too. And she knows what it’s like to have lost nearly everything she loves. As the horse warms up to the girl and the girl lets her guard down for the horse, the three of them become an unlikely family. They recognize their similarities in order to heal their pasts, but not before one last tragedy threatens to take it all away.

Ratings and reviews

Let me start by saying this was a wonderful book. It reminded me of two other books I love, "A Child Called It" and Pictures of Hollis Woods." In this book we have Shiloh, an abused child who has been sent from foster home to another and has built a tough shell around herself. The we have Dream of Night a former race horse who has also been passed from one owner to another where he was abused and neglected. Enter, Jess DiLima. She has experience working with both abused and neglected animals and children. She is ready to throw in the towel when Dream of Night and Shiloh both end up at her farm. With love, patience and time maybe the walls built for protection will come down and love and trust can begin to grow. This book was borrowed from my local library but is one I will be adding to my classroom shelves and recommending to our school's media specialist.

About the author

Heather Henson lives on a farm in Kentucky with her husband and three children, is the managing director of the Pioneer Playhouse, and is the author of several critically acclaimed picture books and novels, including Dream of Night, The Whole Sky, and the Christopher Award–winning That Book Woman.