The Scorpio Races (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Puck/ Kate Connolly: Orphaned Kate Connolly. Kate goes by the nickname Puck. She is the middle child of two brothers that she loves very much. Even though they do not have much, they get by. Puck is head-strong and brave. She is the first girl to enter the Scorpio Races. While training for the races she learns more about the people on the island she loves so dearly. Puck Connolly also befriends the aloof Sean Kendrick. Sean soon becomes an important person to Puck. the reason Puck enters this race is to persuade who dearly beloved older brother Gabe that he does not and shouldn't leave for the main land
• Sean Kendrick: Deep, dark, mysterious, and unconditionally attached to the magical horses on the island. This island is Sean Kendrick's home and the horses are his family, even if he doesn't admit it. Sean has won the races four times before, but this one is more important than all the rest! His father was killed in the races when he was ten. He works for at a horse farm and he knows the horses better than anyone. He will learn more about himself and learn how to trust. he learns how to love and lose and understand and accept consequences.
• Capall Uisce: Flesh-eating water horse. Plural is capaill uisce. Pronounced "copple ooshka". Dangerous and carnivorous, they emerge from the sea each November upon the island beaches, where the most daring islanders capture and attempt to tame them to ride in the annual Scorpio Races.
• Dove: Puck's mare, a normal horse. She fears capaill uisce (flesh-eating water horses). Puck rides her in the races.
• Corr: A red capall uisce trained by Sean. He is the fastest water horse on the island.
• Finn Connolly: Puck and Gabe's younger brother. An orphan. Tinkerer with OCD.
• Gabriel Connolly: Puck and Finn's older brother. An orphan. Wants to leave the island (Thisby).
• Tommy Falk: Gabe's best friend
• Thomas Gratton: The butcher. Husband to Peg and father of Beech.
• Peg Gratton: Thomas Gratton's wife and Beech's mother.
• Ian Privett: Participant in the Scorpio Races. Rides the capall uisce Penda. Won the races twice before Sean's four-time winning streak.
• Matthew "Mutt" Malvern: Sean's nemesis. Son of Benjamin Malvern, Sean's boss. Island bully.
• Benjamin Malvern: Sean's boss and the owner of Corr. Matthew (Mutt)'s father.
• Dory Maud: Owns the shop 'Fathom & Sons'. Has two sisters - Elizabeth and Annie. Puck (Kate) and Finn sell their teapots to her and her sisters.
• Elizabeth: Dory Maud and Annie's sister. Doesn't have a last name. Lives and works at Fathom and Sons'.
• Annie: Dory Maud and Elizabeth's sister. Doesn't have a last name. Is mostly blind. Lives at Fathom and Sons'.
• Mr. George Holly: American investor/buyer of horses who befriends Puck and Sean
• Norman Falk: Tommy Falk's father.
• Father Mooneyham: Priest at St. Columba's. Has a nice red car
• Gorry: Sells capaill uisces. Sold the piebald mare, Skata, to Mutt.
• Beech Gratton: Peg and Thomas Gratton's son. Works at his dad's butcher shop.
• Skata: An out-of-control piebald capaill uisce ridden by Mutt Malvern.
• Brian Carroll: A nice young fellow with asthma.
• Jonathan Carroll: Brian's dimwitted brother.
• Morris: The beloved run-down car of the Conolley's.
• Quinn Daly: Works for Malvern.
• Gerald Finney: Rider in the Scorpio Races
• Frank Eaton: Prejudice race committee member
• Jimmy Blackwell: Rider in the Scorpio Races
• Dr. Halsal: A doctor living on Thisby that is quite attractive.
• Padgett: Rider in the Scorpio Races
• Joseph Beringer: A boy that likes to tease Puck.
• Palsson: Rider in the Scorpio Races
• Ake Palsson: Rider.
• Edana: Capall uisce that belongs to Malvern.
• David Prince: Stable hand at the Malvern's
• Evelyn Carrick: Add a description of this character.
• Mr. Davidge
• Margot
• Colin Calvert
• Mary Finch
• Mr. Daly
• Barnes
• Mr. Malvern

Quotes edit see section history

• ““I stare at him. "You can't risk not winning. Not because of me." Sean doesn't lift his eyes from the counter. "We make our move when you make yours. You on the inside, me on the outside. Corr can come from the middle of the pack; he's done it before. It's one side you won't have to worry about." I say, "I will not be your weakness, Sean Kendrick." Now he looks at me. He Says, very softly, "It's late for that, Puck.””

  Puck Connolly

• ““As the sun shines low and red across the water, I wade into the ocean. The water is still high and brown and murky with the memory of the storm, so if there’s something below it, I won’t know it. But that’s part of this, the not knowing. The surrender to the possibilities beneath the surface. It wasn’t the ocean that killed my father, in the end. The water is so cold that my feet go numb almost at once. I stretch my arms out to either side of me and close my eyes. I listen to the sound of water hitting water. The raucous cries of the terns and the guillemots in the rocks of the shore, the piercing, hoarse questions of the gulls above me. I smell seaweed and fish and the dusky scent of the nesting birds onshore. Salt coats my lips, crusts my eyelashes. I feel the cold press against my body. The sand shifts and sucks out from under my feet in the tide. I’m perfectly still. The sun is red behind my eyelids. The ocean will not shift me and the cold will not take me.””

  Sam Kendrick

• “The island will take you, if you let it.”

  Sean Kendrick

• “Most people hesitate between steps or pause or are somehow uneven about the process. Whether that process is wrapping a leg or eating a sandwich or just living life. But with Sean, there's never a move he's not sure of, even if it means not moving at all.”

  Kate (Puck) Connelly

• “"Tell me what to wish for," I say. "Tell me what to ask the sea for.""To be happy. Happiness."”

  Sean Kendrick and Puck Connelly

• “I'm quite happy for the smile, because Dad told me once you should be grateful for the gifts that are the rarest.”

  Puck Connelly

• “I always liked the idea of being such a bother that I affected even the weather.”

• ““What I need is for your mother to have thought a little harder nine months before your birthday.””

• ““I’m not trying to change anything but my own situation,” I say.”

  Puck Connelly

• “No one notices what the third sister, Annie, looks like, because she's blind.”

  Puck

• “He is slow, and the sea sings to us both, but he returns to me.”

  Sean

• “"I lost a horse today.""That sounds careless. What happened?""She jumped off a cliff.""A cliff? Is that normal?"”

  Sean and Mr. Holly

• “My Dad used to say people's brains are hard of hearing”

  Puck

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Thisby: A small island.
• Skarmouth: The main town on Thisby.
• St. Columba
• Malvern Yard: Owned by Mutt's father
• California: Where George Holly lives

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Capaill uisce: Flesh-eating horses that come from the sea, especially during storms. Singular form: Capall uisce

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Maggie Stiefvater (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Michael L. Printz Award (2012: Honor Book)
• Odyssey Award (2012, Honor)
• Mythopoeic Fantasy Award (Finalist, 2012: Children's Literature)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PZ7.S855625 Sc 2011
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

This book is perfect for your teenage daughter who loves myths. Although this book was written by a female author, guys could read this story too, (even though I wouldn't recommend it unless your teenage son like to read about romance too) as there are chapters that follow the male protagonist. Sean, as well as the female protagonist Puck. This book is different from her Wolves of Mercy Falls books, as romance does not play as big of a role, and there are no shape changing teens, only flesh eating water horses called capall uisce that bring bring people to their death by drowning them from highland mythology. Maggie Stiefvater has yet to make me personally board, and always makes me laugh with her sense of humor.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror › Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Maggie Stiefvater

More Books Like This edit see section history