Customer Reviews

Brighty of the Grand Canyon

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
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My father and grand parents started the Wylie Way camp at the North Rim in 1916. The Summer of 1918 was when Brighty became their water carrier and my father and Brighty made several trips a day to a water source 200ft. below the rim. The camp was about 100yds North West from the current Grand Canyon Lodge and held up to 100 people per night at it's capacity. My Grandmother did all of the accounting and was basically in charge of the people and the kitchen, including the ordering of food, cooking and purchases from Z.C.M.I. It was a pioneering effort, to say the least. Dad's encounters with Brighty have become synonymous with early life at the North Rim. Grandfather wrote an article on Brighty for Sunset Magazine and Marguerite Henry based her book on this article. The book is fiction but has some true things such as Brighty crossing the Bridge first and being independant. I'm not sure if Brighty actually was used by Roosevelt but another Burro was used and his name was Ted. Dad used Ted his first summer at the camp. Ted was stubborn so the following summer Brighty was given them by Uncle Jim Owen who had used Brighty off and on in his cougar hunting adventures. Owen was a resident expert who worked for the government culling the cougar population and raising cattle and buffalo. Thanks. M. Krueger

This great book I read when I was 6,7,8,& 9, but I still remember how great it was. This book was written by a great author, Marguerite Henry. She always wrote Realistic Fiction about horses. Even if you're not a horse lover, you would love these. In Brighty of the Grand Canyon, a donkey named Brighty lives with an old man that lives in the Grand Canyon. One night a "bad guy" comes and meets the two friends. The old man thinks he is really friendly, so he lets him stay the night. Before they went to bed, the old man tells the other too much information and that night, the other man kills him. Brighty knew when he first laid eyes on him, he could tell he was up to no good. As the story goes on, the man runs away and Brighty tries to get him in jail. Brighty goes through many tough challenges and exciting times. Brighty fights with other animals, plays with children, gets sick, and gets trapped with the man and a young boy. I'm not going to give away the end, but not very many people have even heard of Marguerite Henry, so if you think you will enjoy this book from my review, please do so. I admired Marguerite Henry for how well she wrote her stories and how her imagination worked. Sadly, she died in 1998. Once again, I hope you will enjoy the book if you decide to read it.

Set in the Grand Canyon during Teddy Roosevelt's presidency this charming tale introduces readers to an unlikely animal protagonist: a wild burro who lives alone, but has been partially tamed by kind men. Rescued first by the Old Timer, then from a cougar's wounds by the North Rim's resident lion-killer, Brighty experiences the gamut of human behavior toward animals and each other: from the absurd, the selfish, the ambitious, and even the criminal. As the only witness to the evil schemes of a thieving murderer, Brighty relies on his own natural instincts which warn him about vicious Jake Irons.

Ruthless Irons murders the kindly and trusting prospector in order to obtain his copper mine. The sheriff frets for several years that the heinous crime goes unsolved and that the murderer remains unpunished. But Uncle Jimmy Owens' moon-lily tea helps trick a confession from the cruel scoundrel-with Brighty as a non-verbal but wary witness. Even in his lonely pilgrimages down to Bright Angel Creek the burro has many adventures on his own; he even crosses the Colorado River twice on a bridge which he helped men construct. Will he one day prefer to live
with his own kind as king of the herd? Or Be satisfied to be honored and befriended by human beings? Teddy Roosevelt looms larger than life as his personality is interwoven with Marguerite Henry's fictitious characters. For it was this charismatic president who devoted his efforts to setting aside the wilds of the Grand Canyon in the form of a national park.

Readers rejoice at Brighty's free spirit, which is said to prance through the gorges and trails which he cut en route to his beloved North Rim. This gentle burro epitomizes the youth and vigor of the primeval canyon-showing how humans and animals should cooperate to preserve America's natural wilderness. Delightfully illustrated by Wesley Dennis, this book is for outdoors enthusiasts and animal lovers of all ages.

At first i thought it would be good becouse my teacher suggested it. The book is about a donkey who lives in the Grand Canyon. His human friend is murdered and he has t face life without him. My favorite part is when Brighty fights a mountain lion. I liked the ending. it was descriptive and it turned out good.

Marguerite Henry's charming story of a burro in the Grand Canyon during Teddy Roosevelt's time is still an informative, but fictional, introduction to the Canyon. As with most of her wonderful books, the bones of the story are true but the flesh is fiction. That's ok, because I don't think she ever represented them otherwise. The drawings by Wesley Dennis remain spirited and captivating.
As others have noted it is important to keep our view of ecology in mind, that the cougars who are villains in this book, are valuable natural predators in the Canyon while the burros, who are cute heroes here, are destructive immigrants. As someone else said those changes in perception would be great teaching points. It's interesting that a cougar is a "bad guy" here (and I suppose from the burros' point of view they sure are bad guys) because in another of Henry's books, a different predator, the red fox, is a great and funny hero (Cinnabar, the One O'Clock Fox) who even outwits George Washington.
But be that as it may, Brighty is a fun story and he will introduce you to the varied levels of canyon life (rim vs. river). My brother recently returned from a river trip in the Canyon and I gave him this book to read about the Bright Angel Trail he'd walked.
I wouldn't recommend this book to very small children because Brighty does get hurt several times, once very badly.

This book was on my bookshelf as a child (I am Australian). I never read it and later passed it on. Now, 35 years later, I have just visited the Grand Canyon, USA, recognised the cover of the book at a gift shop, and read it on the flight home to Australia. It appealed greatly to me because of the fun-loving, free-spirited nature of the burro. I could identify Brighty's journeys with our stay at Grand Canyon and my walk down part of Bright Angel Train, and the book certainly created feeling and atmosphere which enhanced our short visit to this incredible and beautiful place. The illustrations in the book gave me great pleasure also, and I felt those who enjoy reading children's books would enjoy it as I did. I was interested to read the comments by one reviewer, though, on the environmental impact of burros.

I'm an early childhood educator and have a particular interest in children's literature. While wandering through an abandoned parochial school library, Brighty of the Grand Canyon caught my eye. I brought it home and read it cover to cover. Brighty is a sweet, loving, and endearing character. Kids as well as adults will get caught up in Brighty's world. I'm sad to find out that burros were such a destructive force in the Grand Canyon. But after reading the book, I am hoping to take a vacation out to the Grand Canyon to see Brighty's statue. Check out the Grand Canyon's website for more information on Brighty.

This is based on a true story about the adventures of a special donkey who lives in the Grand Canyon during the time of the building of the first bridge. The story has very real-life qualites. The geographical description of Grand Canyon and involvement with President Theodore Roosevelt are a pleasant addition! This book makes a good read aloud for intermediates and leaves you with an endearing feeling for the characters. I recommend this for intermediate ages. It may be too graphic for young children. Happy reading!

I ordered this book for my wife as we had just returned from the Grand Canyon and she had expressed interest in Brighty...she even bought a small stuffed Brighty. Anyway, the format of the book is really cute as it reminded me of books I read in grammer school. As I understand, the story is based on some level of fact. I have seen references to Brighty in the Grand Canyon Association news and in the Death in Grand Canyon book. It is a fun read and provides a little history of the Grand Canyon. Anyone with an interest in animals, the outdoors or the Grand Canyou will enjoy this book.

As a child I was a very avid reader. This was my favorite book for a few years (9-11)