Pony Book Advent Calendar: December 19th, 2013

-
Today's pony book choice is another of my favourites, Josephine Pullein-Thompson's All Change. This is the story of a family whose security is suddenly whisked away from them when the owner of the estate on which they live and work dies, and the estate is bought by a Financial Wizard. I like the way the clashes between different ways of doing things are handled, and the relationships of the children shift.




I particularly love the Christmas scenes in this book.

"Mummy appeared from the sitting-room. "Bed,' she said. 'Go on, Rory, have a bath and mind you wash. Go on. Hurry up or Father Christmas won't come,' she threatened.
'Don't believe in him,' said Rory going upstairs backwards and as slowly as possible. 'I know it's only you and Dad.'
The rest of us were shooed to bed at ungodly hours with irritating threats about Father Christmas. And it was all nonsense because the parents always go to the Midnight Mass and do the stockings when they get back, and that wasn't likely to be much before a quarter to one."

The book's full of stuff like this; all acutely observed. It's the title of hers that I'd really love to see re-published.

You can read more about Josephine Pullein-Thompson here. 

Read more about the pony book in Heroines on Horseback, my survey of the world of the pony book from the 1930s onwards. There's a whole, long, chapter about the Pullein-Thompsons, with biographical info, and analysis of their books. You can buy a signed copy from me (I'll post them worldwide). The book's also available from the usual sources, or your local bookshop.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou...
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes...
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more