|
Post by Claire on Jan 23, 2008 15:49:45 GMT 1
Have been doing some research about american pony books and authors for a new section on the site. Was just wondering what you all think of US pony books. Has anyone read many? Which are your favs also do you think there are a lot of differences between uk and us pony books. I know there are 1 or 2 american readers who visit the forum so it would be interesting to know their take on it too. My fav US pony books have got to be the Black Stallion series which I love, I also like Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind. I like Jean Slaughter Doty too altho I havent read many of hers. (another on my list!) Have read a few C W Anderson books which are OK but the illustrations by the author are absoloutely stunning. To me USA pony books seem to have a lot more horse racing stories than are ours. (Walter F, Mary O Hara, Marguerite Henry, C W Anderson all have books about horse racing) Also they do have more boys as main characters (Alec, Ken McLaughlin, etc) as horses seemed to be seen less of a girl thing in America when all these books were being written. Prob had something to do with the ranching/cowboy tradition. I wonder however if this has changed with modern american pony books as they seem to be more girly (saddle club, heartland etc) Its interesting that the latest flim to be made of 'Flicka' has changed Ken into a girl called Katie!
|
|
|
Post by sarah on Jan 23, 2008 19:23:24 GMT 1
I've read a Dorothy Lyons (Golden Sovereign) and really enjoyed it. It's the third in a series (Silver Birch, Midnight Moon). Maybe Copper Khan is the fourth - not 100%.
Are the Cammie books (Jane McI....) American?
|
|
|
Post by darkhorse on Jan 23, 2008 19:56:05 GMT 1
I used to love the Flicka and Thunderhead books, also the Misty books. I haven't heard of C W Anderson...would you recommend her/him? I've seen Copper Khan around before didnt realise it was American. The only Jean Slaughter Doty book I have read is Can I Get there by Candelight which I thought was very good. I have also read A Morgan for Melinda but can't remember who wrote that. What about the Joseph Chipperfield books, they were set in America weren't they but was he American too?
|
|
|
Post by haffyfan on Jan 23, 2008 22:14:30 GMT 1
It was Doris Gates who wrote morgan for Melinda...there is a sequel Filly For melinda too. I really like those two and the Cammie series Sarah mentioned...I have recently finally got hold of cammies Cousin Not keen on saddle Club but on the other hand it beats tb series and half moon ranch (I know she's english) and heartland. Chris St John's Riding high series is nice too. I have a few others already mentioned but do tend to go for english/aussie books in general. Dancer by Shelly Peterson is excellent but she's actually canadian...does that count?
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 23, 2008 22:54:13 GMT 1
haff did doris gates write any more pony books do you know? I could never get away with the saddle club series I actally preferred the heartland ones. Am still waiting to read the Cammie & dancer books.
darkhorse re. c w anderson (its a he!) havent read lots of them cos there hard to get over here, quite nice little stories altho nothing outdtanding. But the illustrations are, so worth getting for them alone.
I think Joseph Chipperfield was british he wrote books set in the uk as well as ghost horse etc
|
|
|
Post by sarah on Jan 24, 2008 18:48:32 GMT 1
My Canadian friend would be having a fit now!
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Jan 24, 2008 19:56:18 GMT 1
Does anyone know any background info on Joseph Chipperfield? He did write a lot of books based in America, his wild horse ones, but none of them really rang true, whereas he also wrote several based in the West Country (and I think, Scotland) about German Shepherd dogs, and they were good, he obviously did have a German Shepherd dog. He wrote about working them with sheep, which nowadays people have forgotten they were bred for. I have just read the weirdest American (?) one ever,well two actually, I am not sure what the idea is. They SEEM to have been written by an American, based in an American scenario, then the names changed, a few English idioms chucked in, and now they are English! They load their ponies into 'Trucks'to go to gymkhanas, where the first class is 'Paced and Mannered' if they win - they get a ribbon tied around the ponies necK The author is a Stacy Gregg.
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 24, 2008 21:53:42 GMT 1
My Canadian friend would be having a fit now! Yes, I think its probably about the same as a Scottish person being called English! ;D Been trying to find out more about Joseph Chipperfield kunuma. I know he also wrote a book about eagles set on skye. Will do some research next week if I can restore some health back into this creaking old wreck of a carcass of mine! Anyway will start thread if I find anything out or if anyone else knows please start a thread yourself. Havent heard of the Stacey Gregg books they sound...er...interesting...
|
|
|
Post by susanb on Jan 25, 2008 17:12:39 GMT 1
Haffyfan,
Doris Gates did one more horse book, called Little Vic...pretty easily available as it was printed in hardcover w/dj, picture cover and paperback
Claire,
Re C.W. Anderson, I'd agree...I have a number of his books, but truthfully the stories are a bit on the simple side....it's the illustrations that are irresistable. (I'd probably make an exception to that statement for Blind Connemara, which while short, was really sweet).
Sarah,
Jane McIlvaine was an American, but (based on where I kept finding books by her when I was starting to collect) she was very popular in the UK and in Australia
|
|
|
Post by susanb on Jan 25, 2008 17:17:45 GMT 1
Claire,
Apologies for posting something that I've actually posted on another forum, but it seems to apply to this thread as well. The original discussion on the tread was about books written by men, but I wound up talking a bit about American horse books in general (and it's interesting to note that in the US they're always called horse books, while in the UK it's always pony books, regardless...in either case...of whether it's horses or ponies featured in the book!)
.....complexity of the American horse book genre....it's split into sub-genres. There's the age split....there ARE a lot of girl-and-pony books (Jean Slaughter Doty, Patsey Gray, Suzanne Wilding, Connie McIlvaine, etc.), that target the middle grade age....say 8 to 12, but then there's what would be called the YA (young adult) division, which goes more to the 13 to 18 set (which is also why I think you also find more books that contain a romantic subplot)....Dorothy Lyons, Janet Randall, Janet Lambert, Joan Houston.
Then there's the riding dicipline....you do find a lot of boys books set in either a western ranch setting (Logan Forster's Desert Storm, Albert Miller's Fury, Robert Mongtomery's Golden Stallion), but then there are girls books set on ranches too (Dorothy Lyons' Bright Wampum has a girl rodeo riding!); the same could be said of the racing scene...Walter Farley's books have boys involved with racing, but then C.W. Anderson has girls racing, as again does Dorothy Lyons' Blue Smoke (of course, the most famous girl rider of all time wasn't American at all.....Enid Bagnold's National Velvet). Both Jessie Haas' Working Trot and Patrick Lawson's Star-Crossed Stallion have boys riding dressage.
Maybe it all boils down to the American riding scene....it's all over the place....boys and girls/men and women ride in rodeos, gymkhanas, hunters, jumpers, dressage, eventing, racing (Thoroughbred, Standardbred trotters, Quarter Horse, steeplechase, point-to-point, etc), endurance, polo, etc, so the books about riding have just followed suit.
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 25, 2008 19:29:19 GMT 1
susan thanks very much for that post it is very interesting, especially the fact they are called 'horse' books as opposed to 'pony' books. I suppose it comes from the fact that the books in the UK are very much based upon youngish girls and their ponies, as opposed to a far broader spectrum in American books. Defintely in this country riding has esp in recent times been seen as a girly activity. I would like to read more US pony books (or should I say horse books!) but they are quite hard to find over here.
Oh just a quick question are the saddle club/heartland/thoroughbred books looked down upon in the usa as they are here?
|
|
|
Post by susanb on Jan 25, 2008 21:17:10 GMT 1
Hi Claire,
Re saddle club/heartland/thoroughbred...YES! They're despised by everyone I know who collects (or for that matter, anyone who knows anything about horses). They seem to sell to the Babysitters Club ilk....the horse is an accessory more than anything.
Re US books....I feel your pain.....actually, given the exchange rate, my pain in buying British books is even worse :-( Sometimes I get lucky and find books in the US or Canada, but not often enough...the horrible exchange rate applies to the postage too!
A couple of good US books I know had Puffin paperback printings in the UK, which would be cheap to check out: Horse in the House by William Corbin and Dark Horse of Woodfield by Florence Hightower. Dark Horse was really more a book about family than about horses (an offbeat, very likeable family....think Noel Streatfeild), but I think it would appeal to most horse book lovers.
|
|
|
Post by haffyfan on Jan 25, 2008 21:27:23 GMT 1
Oooh! I had forgotten horse In the House...love it! Thanks for remimding me.
|
|
|
Post by garej on Jan 25, 2008 21:48:01 GMT 1
The only ones I have tried are the Saddle Club books, Throughbred books and Jean Slaughter Doty's Summer Pony, and another by Caroline Fenner (I forget the name).
I must say, that I did not like them at all. I have yet to read a decent USA book.
I do have "Horse In the House" but I have yet to read it. It only cost me 25p so if I dont like it, then it is not a problem.
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 25, 2008 22:00:47 GMT 1
susanb thanks for the tip about Dark horse I love Noel Streatfeild so would probably like that one. Are there many horsy english books in American bookshops? I have an Australian friend who collects them and she gets quite a few in 2nd hand shops over there. There are more UK one in australia than USA ones over here. Strangely there are also some UK authors whose books are actually easier to find in America or Australia than here!
garej is it summer of horses by caroline fenner I actually like that one and horse in the house.
|
|
|
Post by garej on Jan 25, 2008 22:47:06 GMT 1
garej is it summer of horses by caroline fenner I actually like that one and horse in the house. My mistake, it is Carol Fenner, but yes, the book was called Summer of Horses. Re: American books. Although the P-T books (there was some american editions of their books) and other British authors were around in the USA, they dont seem to be as popular as "homegrown talent". I sold several spare P-T books to someone on an non-book related forum, as she couldnt find any of the sisters works: after that, she found 2 of the Phantom Horse series books second hand. I found my spare copy of "Phantom Horse Goes To Ireland" and sent it along, and she says she is really enjoying the Phantom Horse books. I think British pony authors were more common in Australia; the one that started it all used to work in a second hand book shop until a couple of years ago. One day, she went looking for P-T books and found half a dozen; also she found a K M Peyton book too. Some of her pony book collection also came from there too. I have only once bought a (pony) book from the USA; all the rest I had to buy abroad were from Australia, proving that British authors did better there. I have never tried any book from Australia, with the exception of the Silver Brumby, a book I did not like. However I was 12 at the time, so I may like it better now. Whereas when I tried the American books (with the exception of the Saddle Club and Throughbred books) I was an adult.
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 25, 2008 23:44:17 GMT 1
Oh I LOVED the silver b books. Read them first when I was about 9 or 10 and still love them now. I have read a few aussie pony books that my friend sent me. We have discussed it and Aussie pony books are def closer to british ones than american ones are. Some of them you can hardly tell the difference except for the place names whereas you can tell most american ones straight away. An australian book I really recommend altho not a pony one is Playing Beattie Bow by Ruth Park. This is a classic childrens australian book - you may have heard of it - its set in the past and you would honestly think it was british. But going back to horses there are loads of Australian pony book collectors. I sell more to Australia than any other country outside the UK.
|
|
|
Post by susanb on Jan 26, 2008 2:59:50 GMT 1
Haffy--glad to! I just noticed there are a couple of copies on sale on ebay now, as a matter of fact.
Claire--I think the Australians collect EVERYONE'S horse books! I've bought both British and American books from Australian sellers...they really are international!
Re British pony books in America....I moan and complain about trying to buy books on the wrong side of the Atlantic, but I've really been pretty lucky...I've found a number of books in the area where I work (Boston, Massachusetts), and I've bought lots from dealers from across the US (Canada is a good source too, though their postage prices have skyrocketed in the last year). Then there is a great little bookstore in Cambridge, just across the river from Boston, Robin Bledsoe's Bookshop, which specializes in horse books....I've found so many "new" authors and books there (my first Joanna Cannan, Kathleen MacKenzie and Pullien-Thompson books came from that shop!).
And then there's the fact that a lot of British authors had US printings of their books....the Oxus trilogy by Katherine Hull and Pamela Whitlock had US printings, as did H.M. Peel's Pilot trilogy, Primrose Cumming's Silver Snaffles, Wednesday Pony and Chestnut Filly, Joanna Cannan's A Pony for Jean, all of Vian Smith's books, most notibly King Sam (US title Tall and Proud), which was printed here in both hardcover and paperback...whew, I'm sure I've forgotten some, but you see what I mean!
|
|
|
Post by Claire on Jan 26, 2008 20:57:04 GMT 1
I really like vian smiths books I want to read more but they are nearly all in the USA!
|
|
|
Post by kunuma on Jan 30, 2008 23:21:28 GMT 1
I've just found one of CW Anderson's books, very much almost a big print/small child book, but I agree about the lovely illustrations.
|
|