Tex
S. E. Hinton
 The book opens with Tex McCormick who is a happy go lucky 14 year old who loves horses, his brother Mace, living in a small town and Jamie the girl next door. Tex is growing up mostly with Mace in a small country home. Their mother died years before and their father goes off for months at a time leaving Mace, a senior and a star basketball player and Tex at home. At the start of the book Tex comes home to find the two brothers horses sold. Negrito, Tex's horse, was always more of a human friend to Tex, so he is sad. However Mason had to sell the horses to guarantee Tex and himself would have enough to eat over the winter. This action by Mason, sets Tex against his brother most of the book. But the McCormick brothers aren't alone. Living in the significantly larger ranch house next door (about a half a mile) are the Collins's, the family includes Mason's best friend Bob, Tex's best friend Johnny and the younger sister who Tex loves, Jamie. The Collins's however are forbidden to see Mace and Tex because the patriarch of the Collins family, Cole thinks they are a bad influence. After a turn of events involving Tex and Mason's father, Tex runs away to the city with a family friend and eventually learns that just living life and staying with his brother is the best thing for him.