The adventures of Black Beauty is a story that few of us will forget and one that deserves the popularity it has known through many generations.

Black Beauty is the autobiography of a courageous horse who was often badly mistreated. When first published, it was an immediate success. Anna Sewell died knowing that her book had indeed encouraged people to treat animals less cruelly.

Anna Sewell was born in Yarmouth, England in 1820. When she was 14, she sprained her ankle running down a steep road. She was never able to walk upright again, but she could still ride the horses she loved so much. A friend said that Anna didn't use the reins, but would guide the horses by talking to them.

When she was 50, Anna was confined to bed and it was while she was bed-ridden that she wrote Black Beauty "to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses". She died in 1878 at the age of 58, one year after Black Beauty, her only book, was published.

Kate Redding is an accomplished actress and narrator, having narrated hundreds of books. In this wonderful narration she lets us know that Black Beauty is one of her favorite children's stories.