What to read?
What I review on this blog is generally horse-related, mostly for children, although adult literature and some non-fiction appear too. I believe passionately that children who happen to be readers of what's considered genre fiction should have decent stuff to read. Just because something's written within a genre, it doesn't have to be bad. Children shouldn't be short changed.
If your child is pony-mad, then you at least have somewhere to start if you want to get them interested in books. What I aim to do on this page (and on my website) is pick out the good stuff; the books that are well written, as well as including the all-important horse.
Here's some recommendations from what I've read:
For older readers:
Updated 27th October 2014: alas pressure of work has meant I've had to curtail active reviewing, but this list still stands as a worthwhile place to start an equine reading journey.
If your child is pony-mad, then you at least have somewhere to start if you want to get them interested in books. What I aim to do on this page (and on my website) is pick out the good stuff; the books that are well written, as well as including the all-important horse.
Here's some recommendations from what I've read:
For older readers:
- Carolyn Henderson's Beside Me
- Susan Ketchen's Born That Way
- Amanda Wills' The Lost Pony of Riverdale
- Kate Lattey's Dare to Dream
- Jane Ayres' The Horse in My Heart
- Tudor Robins' Objects in Mirror
- Katharina Marcus' Eleanor McGraw, a Pony Called Mouse and a Boy Called Fire
- Maggie Dana's Timber Ridge Riders series
- K M Peyton's All That Glitters
- Victoria Eveleigh's Joe and the Hidden Horseshoe, Joe and the Lightning Pony and Joe and the Race to the Rescue
- Belinda Rapley's series The Pony Detectives
- Sheena Wilkinson's Too Many Ponies
- Diana Kimpton's Princess Ellie's Perfect Plan
- Che Golden's Mulberry and the Summer Show
- Stacy Gregg's The Princess and the Foal
Adult fiction:
- Hannah Hooton's Share and Share Alike - entertaining romance set in the racing world
- Natalie Keller Reinert's Ambition - brilliantly written eventing story
- Kit Ehrman's At Risk - rollicking detective fiction
Adult non fiction:
- Mandy Retzlaff's One Hundred and Four Horses - a traumatic tale of life in Zimbabwe
- Hilary Bradt's Connemara Mollie, and its sequel Dingle Peggy - excellent travel writing.
- Susanna Forrest's equine memoir If Wishes Were Horses
Updated 27th October 2014: alas pressure of work has meant I've had to curtail active reviewing, but this list still stands as a worthwhile place to start an equine reading journey.