Post by tintin on Feb 18, 2013 17:02:03 GMT 1
A book that might easily have been called “Poor Little Rich Girl”
Another Jackie, perhaps an appropriate read for me so near to Valentines Day, but very different from either Miss Hope or Mrs Corkhill. A change from “Blind Beauty” in that here we have a young lady suffering from a surfeit, rather than a dearth, of the nicer things this world affords and from perhaps too much support from her father.
I enjoyed this book perhaps despite rather than because of young Jacqueline. Her story is sympathetically told and I think realistically and is very similar to “I Had Two Ponies”. Basically her mother died when she was very, very young and her rich father has over indulged her. She is brash and over confident, but underneath insecure and more than a little scared and lonely. She goes to Pat's farm where her and her friends, especially her young friends, brother and sister the "Two Jays", start to straighten her out. All works out well in the end, though not without quite a bit of friction, and the two jays become the three jays.
Pat Smythe writes well and you learn quite a bit about training horses quite painlessly. The description of lunging Pickles, Jackie’s pony, is really interesting. She also writes really well about her local area in Gloucestershire which she obviously loves very much and is very proud of.
I had n’t read any Pat Smythe before and warmed to her as she had a talent for saying what a lovely and enjoyable life she had without appearing to crow about it. She does n’t hide its hard work, but honest enjoyment seems to exude from the page. Her’s was a very jet set life, especially for the period. She seems just the sort of person you would want in charge of you, the right mixture of fun and firmness with lots of interesting knowledge to impart. I should imagine the intended readership lapped this up. If you could n’t have a horsey life yourself sharing the warm home life of a top show jumper through the pages of the Three Jays must have been a pretty good substitute.
Initially I found the underlying principle of the books a bit odd with its mixture of real and fictional characters. I could n’t really understand why she could n’t either write children’s books about her actual life or wholly fictitious books. Perhaps it is an early example of marketing products through the use of celebrities? Anyway I soon put this out of my mind as the book worked quite well. There is a particularly good hunt where Jackie does everything wrong which gets over what not to do far better than a big list of does and don’ts.
Another good point is that the rescue denouement is not too far fetched and reasonably believable. It is challenging for Jackie, and is well and sensitively written to show how brave she has to be in terms of where she is at, rather than save the world brave which a less good writer might fall back on. Overall the book is believable with some good messages and a nice mixture of the homely and the adventurous. Not as good as the PT sisters, but makes you want to read another one – “Three Jays Lend a Hand” is next on the shelf.
On a final note, if I ever appear in a book I want an illustrator like Pat Smythe’s!
In real life she was quite pretty in a wholesome sort of way, but in the book she has film star type glamour.
Another Jackie, perhaps an appropriate read for me so near to Valentines Day, but very different from either Miss Hope or Mrs Corkhill. A change from “Blind Beauty” in that here we have a young lady suffering from a surfeit, rather than a dearth, of the nicer things this world affords and from perhaps too much support from her father.
I enjoyed this book perhaps despite rather than because of young Jacqueline. Her story is sympathetically told and I think realistically and is very similar to “I Had Two Ponies”. Basically her mother died when she was very, very young and her rich father has over indulged her. She is brash and over confident, but underneath insecure and more than a little scared and lonely. She goes to Pat's farm where her and her friends, especially her young friends, brother and sister the "Two Jays", start to straighten her out. All works out well in the end, though not without quite a bit of friction, and the two jays become the three jays.
Pat Smythe writes well and you learn quite a bit about training horses quite painlessly. The description of lunging Pickles, Jackie’s pony, is really interesting. She also writes really well about her local area in Gloucestershire which she obviously loves very much and is very proud of.
I had n’t read any Pat Smythe before and warmed to her as she had a talent for saying what a lovely and enjoyable life she had without appearing to crow about it. She does n’t hide its hard work, but honest enjoyment seems to exude from the page. Her’s was a very jet set life, especially for the period. She seems just the sort of person you would want in charge of you, the right mixture of fun and firmness with lots of interesting knowledge to impart. I should imagine the intended readership lapped this up. If you could n’t have a horsey life yourself sharing the warm home life of a top show jumper through the pages of the Three Jays must have been a pretty good substitute.
Initially I found the underlying principle of the books a bit odd with its mixture of real and fictional characters. I could n’t really understand why she could n’t either write children’s books about her actual life or wholly fictitious books. Perhaps it is an early example of marketing products through the use of celebrities? Anyway I soon put this out of my mind as the book worked quite well. There is a particularly good hunt where Jackie does everything wrong which gets over what not to do far better than a big list of does and don’ts.
Another good point is that the rescue denouement is not too far fetched and reasonably believable. It is challenging for Jackie, and is well and sensitively written to show how brave she has to be in terms of where she is at, rather than save the world brave which a less good writer might fall back on. Overall the book is believable with some good messages and a nice mixture of the homely and the adventurous. Not as good as the PT sisters, but makes you want to read another one – “Three Jays Lend a Hand” is next on the shelf.
On a final note, if I ever appear in a book I want an illustrator like Pat Smythe’s!
In real life she was quite pretty in a wholesome sort of way, but in the book she has film star type glamour.