Excerpts from Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan

 

Background: Riding Freedom is about a young girl named Charlotte who lives during the mid-1800s. Her parents are dead and she lives in an orphanage. She loves horses, but the overseer of the orphanage where she lives forbids her to work with them simply because she’s a girl. Life there is hard, and at some point she realizes she cannot stay there, so she decides to run away from the orphanage. This scene is when Charlotte tells a trusted older and wiser adult at the orphanage that she must escape. The friend’s name is Vern, and his job at the orphanage is to take care of the horses. One of the horses is named Justice.

 

                “Thanks, Vern. I wish I could stay with you and work with the horses, but…I’d be in the kitchen and I’d be missin’ Justice and frettin’ ‘cause I wouldn’t get to see Charity’s foal…or help you name it.”

                “I know. I know, Miss Charlotte,” said Vern. “You gotta do what your heart tells you.”

                “I won’t ever forget you,” said Charlotte.

                “I guess I’m not likely to forget you, Miss Charlotte.”

 

Background: Charlotte leaves the orphanage and her good friends Vern and Hayward. She eventually finds a nice older man who lets her live in his barn and begins to teach her to drive a six-horse stagecoach. Learning to drive the coach is hard work.

 

                “Here were six strong horses waiting for her commands, her tugs on the reins, to tell them which way to go. She yelled, “Haw” and “Gee” to get them to bear left and right, like she did when she was riding one horse or driving two.

                She wished Hayward could see her. And Vern. Vern would have never let her get out of that wagon until she figured out the turns. Just like when he taught her to ride, he kept putting her back on Freedom [her horse] after each fall, saying, “Every time you fall, you learn somethin’ new ‘bout your horse. You learn what not to do next time.”

 

Background: Charlotte is now a good stagecoach driver, but on this day someone from her past wants to ride on her stagecoach and that upsets her. Ebeneezer, the man who taught her to drive a six-horse stagecoach, sees that she’s upset.

 

                “What are you blabberin’ about? The mail’s gotta go through, same as them passengers.”

                Ebeneezer put his hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “Now listen, don’t you pay them passengers no mind. You are what you are. And what you are, is a fine horseman. And the best coachman I ever saw. You remember that. under the circumstances, there ain’t nothing left for you to do but your job. So get to it.”

                Charlotte looked square at Ebeneezer.

                Ebeneezer looked square at Charlotte and said, “You’re the coachman. You’re in charge, so load ‘em up.”