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Reading schedule · Grades 3–6

Black Beauty in 4 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A four-week plan for reading Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, one section a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 3–6, in class or at home.

Pacing

At the grammar stage (grades 3–6) short, regular readings work better than long ones. Many families read aloud together and ask children to tell back what they heard before talking about the questions. Each week covers one section; if a section feels long, take two weeks over it and keep the escape room for the end.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Black Beauty

Week 1: Chapters 1–12

Read: Chapters 1–12

Black Beauty tells his own story, from his early life in a meadow with his mother, the hunt he sees and being broken in. Sold to Birtwick Park, he makes friends with Ginger and Merrylegs, hears Ginger's sad story of rough handling, and on a stormy night refuses to cross a broken bridge.

Discussion questions

1. Why does Ginger behave so differently from Beauty?
2. What makes Birtwick Park a good home?
3. Why is the story told by a horse, and what difference does that make?

Escape room: The Stormy Night (lockedlessons.com/rooms/black-beauty-chapters-1-12/)

Week 2: Chapters 13–21

Read: Chapters 13–21

James leaves for a new job, but not before he leads Beauty out of a fire at an inn. Young Joe Green takes over, Beauty gallops through the night to fetch help for the sick mistress and falls ill through Joe's mistakes, and the family must leave Birtwick, parting the horses.

Discussion questions

1. What does James do during the fire that shows his character?
2. Is Joe Green to blame for Beauty's illness?
3. How do the horses feel about the parting?

Escape room: Riding Through the Night (lockedlessons.com/rooms/black-beauty-chapters-13-21/)

Week 3: Chapters 22–35

Read: Chapters 22–35

At Earlshall the proud lady insists on the cruel bearing rein, and Ginger kicks out against it. Beauty helps when Lady Anne's horse runs away with her, but after Reuben Smith rides him drunk he falls and scars his knees; sold on, he becomes a job horse, suffers a thieving groom and a lazy one, and is bought at a horse fair by the London cabman Jerry Barker.

Discussion questions

1. What does the bearing rein show about people who care more for fashion than for animals?
2. Why is Reuben Smith's fall such a turning point for Beauty?
3. What do we learn about people from the way they treat horses?

Escape room: A Fall in the Dark (lockedlessons.com/rooms/black-beauty-chapters-22-35/)

Week 4: Chapters 36–49

Read: Chapters 36–49

Jerry will not work on Sundays, and Beauty meets Ginger again, worn out. After the election, old Captain's accident and the arrival of Hotspur, Jerry's illness ends his cab work; Beauty is worked hard by a corn dealer and by Nicholas Skinner until he collapses, and a kind farmer and his grandson nurse him and find him his last home.

Discussion questions

1. Why does Jerry refuse to work on Sundays?
2. What does Ginger's fate make the reader feel?
3. What does the book argue about how horses should be treated?

Escape room: Hard Times in London (lockedlessons.com/rooms/black-beauty-chapters-36-49/)