Riding Freedom

Title: Riding Freedom
Author: Pam Muñoz Ryan
Illustrator: Brian Selznick
Genre: Historical Fiction
Awards: Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee (2000-2001)
Grade Level: 3-5

Based on a true story, Charlotte Parkhurst lived in a boy orphanage after her parents died in a carriage accident. Unlike many girls in the mid-1800s, Charlotte was strong and loved taking care of and riding horses. Fearing a life without Hayward, her best friend, banned from the stables, and forced to stay in the orphanage as the new cook, Charlotte decided to run away to Concord. She disguised herself as a boy named Charley. In the new town, she was secretly living in the loft of the stables when Ebeneezer, the stable owner, finds her. He allowed her to stay in exchange for working in the stables and eventually taught her to be the best stagecoach driver on the East Coast. In hopes of fulfilling her dream of having her own private property, she travels to Sacramento to work at the California Stage Company. Because of a horse kick, she was blinded in her left eye and had to retrain herself to drive the coach. She eventually bought land to establish a way station and met with Hayward again. She voted in the 1868 presidential election years before women were allowed to vote. An inspirational story of resilience during a time when girls were limited to live a certain life, this book gives readers some insights to what mid-1800s life in America was like. I would use this book in the women history unit to which the students can analyze the change in women roles and rights over the years.

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