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Post by Claire on Nov 11, 2007 22:29:46 GMT 1
Have noticed a few disparaging comments about the more modern pony books/authors such as the Saddle Club, Thoroughbred series, etc. But are they as bad as they are made out to be? Thought I would start a thread where we could discuss not only which of the modern pony book writers are good and bad but also the differences between the so called 'classic' books and the modern ones. Also have pony books deteriorated over the years and if so why? Well I'll leave you with these questions as have to dash off and clean the cats litter tray as entire house pongs!!
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Post by kunuma on Nov 12, 2007 10:10:39 GMT 1
Claire, Came on here with the ulterior motive of picking peoples' brains about pony books, but now I'm thinking I should start a thread asking for advice about cats, esp after being kept up all night by one of the little dears!
What I have found (JMHO) with the modern pony books is that they are so often written by people who have little real horse knowledge, and it shows! Just silly mistakes like calling parts of the horse by the wrong name, or not knowing colours, or how a horse behaves, actually spoil the whole story for me! That is, I think, why I still reread the PT and Leitch books for example, you can tell they really knew about horses. Don't want to offend the Saddle club people, (and I have collected the whole series !) but at least once in every book I find myself thinking, "that's so wrong"!
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Post by seahorse on Nov 12, 2007 21:14:36 GMT 1
I am sure the reason I love the classics so much is the nostalga and the innocence of them, they take me out of the real world and back to the safty and protection of childhood. Also they used to educate with out you really noticing I agree with Kumuma the new ones can lack knowledge, there are exceptions the ones by Ginny Leng for an example.
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Post by haffyfan on Nov 12, 2007 21:16:15 GMT 1
Sorry think it was me who started the slagging off of modern books but they are pretty much contrite rubbish (in my opinion). Churned out by a marketing man to appeal to girls of a certain age with one aim in mind...MAKING MONEY....you only have to look at TB, Half Moon Ranch, Heartland and Saddle club and the sheer number of titles and frequency of publishing. Jinny was probably the longest running vintage series, i can think of, and they spanned two decades from no 1 to 12. The modern characters don't tend to have depth and are more interested in boys than the finer points of equitation and horse care! Wasn't that what Sweet Dreams books were for?
Even some of the books written in the late 70's/early 80's lost that magic sparkle (innoncence I think!) and apart from Josephine's Woodbury Pony Trilogy (which I love) the 80's PT sisters books just don't do it for me in the same way the more vintage ones did.....maybe it was their own innoncence that added to the charms of the early books?.
I do like Samantha Alexanders Riders series, and think I have already explained why on another thread, but I cannot think of another modern author (90's onwards) whose work I have enjoyed. In fact I didn't think much of the Hollywell stables series...they seemed to borrow bits from other books at times? I haven't read the racing series yet so can't comment.)
The american 'Blue Ribbons' series was okay too...not sure off hand when these were published but would guess they are 90's?
Thank goodness for Fidra books re publishing Six Ponies, Fly By Night, London Pride, Silver Snaffles and the upsoming Jill and Eventers series, I say. The kids of today are finally going to get some quality pony books to read!
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Post by kunuma on Nov 13, 2007 14:10:56 GMT 1
I have been thinking about this, as I headed to my shelves to reread just about everything mentioned so far!! What comes through so strongly in the older books is the independence factor - not just from the PT ones, after all , those sisters had 'girl power' before the Spicegirls were born! But also in books like the Jinny series, when she had problems with riding Shantih, she had to find ways to train her herself. Back then parents didn't rush the horse off to an expensive training establishment or more likely sell it on the spot and buy a more expensive and better trained one! What comes through is that it is more FUN doing it for yourself, and you learn a whole lot more! That was the aspect I really identified with. So many of my favourites involved a pony who was considered no good, until someone spent a lot of time and trouble over it, and found out how good it really was! Plus, if you really loved a pony or indeed any animal, you found some way to look after it well, no matter what! I so approved of Jill keeping both her ponies, and the way she was disgusted that Anne's mother "sold hers when outgrown, like a pair of old shoes".
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Post by garej on Nov 16, 2007 21:26:49 GMT 1
I do like Samantha Alexanders Riders series, and think I have already explained why on another thread, but I cannot think of another modern author (90's onwards) whose work I have enjoyed. In fact I didn't think much of the Hollywell stables series...they seemed to borrow bits from other books at times? I haven't read the racing series yet so can't comment.) I love Samantha Alexander's Riders series. That (apart from one other, which I will come to in a minute) is the only 1990s non P-T books that are on my bookshelf (oh and Gillian Baxter's Bargain Horses). They are written quite well for modern times, though to me they will never have the charms of the books written in the 50s and 60s (by any author). But they are a good read. I also owned 2 of the Hollywell Stables, they seemed a bit bland and poorly written when compared to Riders. I know she has written another series called something like "Riding School". I havent tried those. But you are right when you say about it feels too borrowed - compare with Christine Pullein-Thompson's Horsehaven series, which is basically the same idea - about a horse rescue charity - when compared is 10 x times better (and I am not saying that because I am a P-T fan). Ginny Elliot wrote a series set in a Racing yard, the books were called Winning, Race Against Time and High Hurdle. With the exception of Winning, they can be hard to find, but they are exceptionally well written for the time. High Hurdle is poorer in comparison (and probably sold less, hence why Ginny didnt write any more), but that is because it is based in a USA racing yard whereas the other two were based in a UK one, but still they are a good read.
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Post by Claire on Nov 28, 2007 22:43:17 GMT 1
Been meaning to write in this thread for a while but somehow never got round to it! I actually think that modern pony books are OK for what they are. I agree with the others that Samantha Alexander is prob the best of the modern ones (except for K M Peyton who seems to be one of the few older authors to keep writing books) but I don't think any of them are too bad. I think that authors tend to write for a certain generation and it is only really brilliant writers who can write a book which can appeal across generations. So the modern pony books will appeal more to the younger crowd which it has been designed for. I think in some respects also some of the magic you get from reading pony books is re-creating the excitement and vitality of youth. For instance my favourite P-T books are the ones that I read when I was a child,such as the Noel and Henry books, I wanted a Pony, Ponies in Peril, etc, etc. I stopped reading pony books when I was in my mid teens, probably more interested in boys by then! But as an adult when I eventually did read some of the books that were published at around that time (about 1983 onwards) they didnt seem to hold the same magic for me as the earlier ones. Books like Racehorse Holiday, Save the Ponies, the Woodbury pony club series, etc. Was it because I didnt read them as a child or was it because that by then the readership had changed and the style of books had changed to suit? I know that I can read books from the 1950s/60s/70s that I hadn't actually read in my childhood but because they are written in the same way or style or whatever they are almost as enjoyable. I think with the good modern writers such as Sam Alexander in the Riders series they have somehow managed to capture the flavour of the old-style pony books but with a modern twist. The other modern pony book authors have completely lost this element which is probably why they don't appeal to the older pony book reader but do appeal to the kids. What I would really like to know is what younger readers (teenagers or younger) actually think of the 'classic' pony books. I dont have children and none of my friends with kids of that age were horsy so I just don't know. If any one has children of that age who have read these books I would really love to know their opinion of them. Do they think they are old-fashioned or boring or what? (Hurrah, finally finished this post, been trying to do it for about 2 hours but everyone decided to ring me tonight! )
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Post by garej on Nov 30, 2007 22:44:11 GMT 1
I think that they (the P-T sisters) had to change. Josephine wrote to me earlier on this year, and she mentioned 2 incidents where the publishers interfered and this definitely influenced the way she wrote the books. Diana in her letters (I also wrote to her) didnt say anything about that, and unfortunately I have never written to Christine, before she died. But I bet that the publishers have strongly influenced theirs, and this on the whole, probably is due to what they have written at the time.
Getting away from the P-T's, I wouldnt be surprised if that happened to other authors too.
I dont have any younger readers to ask, either.
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Post by garej on Dec 1, 2007 23:31:15 GMT 1
Another modern book which is quite good is "The Will to Win" by Mary May. It is about a girl who (through an accident) is disabled, and takes up carriage driving. There are 3 others in the series, but I have yet to get them.
It was written in 1996, and is one of the last books to be illustrated by a woman called Anne Grahame Johnstone, which was a prolific non horse illustrator (along with her sister). She only died 2 years after that book was published.
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