The Sand Ponies — Shirley Rousseau Murphy

There is only one way to go: north toward their old home by the sea -- the ranch that had been sold, and their beloved horses sold, when their parents were killed in the car accident. Running away from the drunken and abusive uncle with whom they'd been sent to live, Karen and Tom know they are taking the most obvious route, but no other place draws them.

It's a long journey before they reach the coast and discover the one place where wild ponies roam, ponies that people call magical -- and where they tangle with a gang of thieves. Escaping, they find shelter with a group of honest, kind and mismatched new friends, not all of them what they seem. They don't know then, longing so for their horses, that Karen's buckskin pony yearns for bis old home too, where he had been bom -- but that pony is as stubborn as Karen.

This haunting story, like Shirley Rousseau Murphy's other horse book, White Ghost Summer, has been enjoyed by many readers who will be happy to find back in print.