Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is a poignant story told from the perspective of a horse, highlighting the mistreatment of animals and advocating for kindness and compassion towards them. The story is narrated as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty--beginning with his carefree days as a foal on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behavior.

Black Beauty is considered to be one of the first fictional animal autobiographies. Originally meant to be informative literature read by adults on the norms of horse cruelty and preventions of these unjust acts, this timeless classic is now seen as an all time great among children.