THE FULL STORY: This classic story had its beginnings when a librarian gave Marguerite Henry a magazine containing an article about a burro that migrated like a bird. In winter, he played within the deep warmth at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. In summer, he high-tailed it up the north wall to live in the cool forest at the top. The real Brighty lived near the Grand Canyon from around 1892 to 1922. He was named Bright Angel after the creek that flowed into the Canyon from his summer home, but everyone called him Brighty. He spent his summers carrying water from a spring in the Canyon to tourist accommodations on the North Rim. Most of the events and people in this novel were based on fact: Brighty was the first to cross the new suspension bridge he helped to build over the Colorado river at the bottom of the Canyon, and he hunted mountain lion with President Theodore Roosevelt. In Henry's novel, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Brighty runs free until he befriends Old Timer, a gold prospector. Just when their search for riches pays off, a horse thief ambushes the old man and attempts to use Brighty to find a way out of the wilderness canyon with the gold. Brighty escapes and reaches Old Timer's friends, Uncle Jim Owen and his young nephew, Homer. Together, the intrepid trio of man, boy, and burro embark on a thrilling wilderness journey to bring the wicked horse thief to justice. Fans of this astonishing burro will also enjoy the video released in 1997.
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