Wild Thing

I’ll admit, I rolled my eyes at first—*another* ‘girl tames wild horse’ story? But *Wild Thing* disarmed me within minutes. Mackall’s writing is so viscerally grounded that you’ll feel the heat of the stable, the prickle of sweat under Winnie’s helmet. The horse isn’t just a metaphor; he’s a living, snorting challenge, and Winnie’s progress (or backsliding) feels earned. One scene where she freezes mid-mount, her legs locked in terror, had me holding my breath right alongside her. That’s the kind of specificity that hooks listeners. Sara Hannan’s performance is a clinic in understatement. She resists the urge to overdramatize Winnie’s fear, instead letting her voice tighten just slightly, like a rein pulled too taut. Her Wild Thing is all huffs and stubborn silence—no cartoonish whinnies here. My only critique? The background music in transitional scenes occasionally swells a *touch* too loud, briefly drowning out Hannan’s quieter lines. And while the ending ties up neatly, I wished for one more scene showing Winnie’s growth outside the arena—her world feels so vivid, I wanted to linger. Still, for a middle-grade audiobook, this is a rare gem: short enough to hold fidgety listeners, but layered enough to spark real conversations about fear, faith, and the animals that change us.