Valkrist's Flight (Bella Sara Series #2) »

Journey to the world of magical horses . . .

Introducing Valkrist—a majestic winged steed that will help a farm girl discover that her dreams about magical horses might be more real than she ever imagined.

Children's Literature

"Bella Sara" is a trading card series, a website and now a book series. This second book of the series is about orphaned and bullied Emma Roland and her friendship with magical Sara. It is Sara who eases Emma's grief over the death of her parents. She gives Emma a beautiful, bound journal full of good-quality, blank paper on which to write her poems. Emma's unfinished poem "With Wings I Can Fly" is already written in the book. "The Ballad of Emma" is embossed in gold on the cover along with "From your friend Sara" and a purple orchid. Emma's uncle took over the family farm after their death, and now he blames Emma because their final boarder's Thoroughbred mare, Dowager, has turned up pregnant. Bad goes to worse when Dowager dies giving birth to her foal, a beautiful silvery white colt. Then, her cousin Colm knocks over a candle in the barn where Emma sleeps and blames her for it. He throws her special book into the fire, and her uncle sells her pony. Emma dreams of a land where horses fly. Sara explains that Emma is having visions about the home of her ancestors. Called North of North, it is on the other side of the Aurora Borealis. Emma is the direct descendant of Sigga, a mighty Valkyrie. A golden stallion named Valkrist flies down to take Emma home. She must prove her claim as Sigga's heir by unlocking Sigga's alcove with purple orchids. After that, she finds Sigga's Ballad and learns how to end her poem. When she reads the poem to Dowager's foal, injured in the barn fire, he miraculously recovers and sprouts wings. Emma also makes peace with her uncle and his family. A nice combination of magic and horses, but the story is a bit formulaic. It did keep my interest, though.Reviewer: Sarah Maury Swan