Black Beauty tells the story of the horse’s own long and varied life, from a well-born colt in a pleasant meadow, to an elegant carriage horse for a gentleman, to a painfully overworked cab horse. Throughout, Sewell rails—in a gentle, nineteenth-century manner—against animal maltreatment. Young readers will follow Black Beauty’s fortunes, good and bad, with gentle masters as well as cruel. Children can easily make the leap from horse–human relationships to human–human relationships, and begin to understand how their own consideration of others may be a benefit to all.