Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

There's a decent amount of books out in the next few weeks, but first, some books I missed: Anne C Hambleton: Raja, Story of a Racehorse The author is an ex steeplechase jockey who now events, so the detail in this should be authentic! It’s about what happens to a  racehorse after his track career : not something traditionally dealt with in horse stories, which tend to finish with the glory of the finishing line. The book is $12.00 -  not as far as I can see available in the UK, but it will be soon. Alex Brown: Greatness and Goodness: Barbaro & His Legacy Actually out last year, this is the story of a horse who won the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin for sixty years; was destined for glory it was thought, but broke down in the Preakness, and eventually fell victim to laminitis. Glen View Media, £19.15, Kindle, £5.83. Kirsten Radtke & Bernd Radtke: The World of the Tahawy Bedouin and Their Pure- bred Arabian Horses Out on 31 March, published by  Med...

Here's this month's releases. Patricia Leitch -  Horse in a Million Out today (1st August) is the latest in Catnip’s  Jinny  series is  Horse in a Million ( £5.99).  In this episode, the sixth in the series, Jinny and Sue are organising the Finmory Gymkhana, but Clare Burnley, pot hunter supreme, decides to compete. After that, two of Miss Tuke’s ponies disappear, and then Shantih disappears.. .     A few weeks ago Catnip's commisioning editor wrote a piece on  why she commisioned the reprints .  Kelly McKain -  Daisy and Dancer Also out today (Stripes Publishing, £4.99) is the latest in this long running series.  I keep thinking that I really must read another, as I haven't read one since the first, about which my feelings were ambivalent.  The series is a popular one, and more new titles are planned.  In this latest, Daisy is the latest attendee at Sunnyside Stables, and her pony for the week is going ...

Here's this month's horse and pony book releases. Kate O’Hearn - Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus I’m looking forward to the next episode in this Greek gods meet modern day America saga, having enjoyed the first book, Pegasus and the Flame , very much. At the end of the first volume, Olympus had been saved, though surely only temporarily as the Nirads were still very much alive and well. Jenny Oldfield - Black Pearl Ponies Jenny Oldfield’s latest series is out this month.  As far as I can see,two titles are released this month:   Red Star and Wildflower .  It’s another series set in America, on a ranch, a formula which has been extremely successful for Jenny Oldfield before . Tracy Dockray - Lost and Found Pony  Feiwell & Friends, £10.49.  Tracy Dockray, who has illustrated books by Beverly Cleary, has her own book out at the end of July.  The cover certainly looks promising. Pippa Funnell - Tilly's Pony Tails 14: Buttons: the Naughty P...

Here's a round up of the pony book releases I know about for June. Babette Cole - The Enchanted Pony, The Curse of the Pony Vampires The next two in Babette Cole’s Fetlock Hall series are out in June.  Penny Simms continues her adventures at boarding school Fetlocks Hall, fighting against the evil Devilpeds.  Vampires finally make their way into a pony book in The Curse of the Pony Vampires .  It was only a matter of time.  Bloomsbury Publishing, £5.99. Monica Dickens - Dora at Follyfoot Andersen Publishing have the next Follyfoot episode out this month.  £4.99. Patricia Leitch - Gallop to the Hills The next Jinny re-issue is out this month, as Catnip continue their lovely series of reprints.  £5.99. Stacy Gregg - Nightstorm and the Grand Slam The 12th in the Pony Club Secrets series is due out this month.  This lengthy series is nearing completion now.  HarperCollins, £5.99. Alison Lester - Noni the Pony Excellent Australian auth...

I've been busy over the past few months buying up an example of every pony book author I can find who is in print. People often ask me what they can buy today for their pony mad child: what they can go into a bookshop and pick up and buy. Unfortunately, if you go into the average bookshop, you would very soon come to the conclusion that the pony book was a dead genre, or meant only for the under 8s. In the dim and distant past when I was buying pony paperbacks, I would find them in toyshops and even in Boots, which then had a book department. Now, the choice in my home county is severely limited. I visited Waterstones in Kettering and in Covent Garden, London, and WH Smith in Northampton and Rushden, and an independent bookshop in Market Harborough. WH Smith was better than Waterstones, but there wasn't a lot in it. Waterstones in Covent Garden had only the Katie Price paperbacks (the lack of pony possibly reflecting its city centre location), but Waterstones in Kettering w...

Vanessa of Fidra put this post on her blog about the shortlist for the Galaxy Book Awards 2008. The children's section is voted for by children at W H Smith shops, and the shortlist is: Michael Morpurgo's Born to Run, Jacqueline Wilson's Kiss , Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry and the Abominable Snowman and Fiona Watt's That's Not My Penguin . So, no surprises there: but there is another entry on the shortlist and that is Katie Price's Perfect Ponies - the guide to looking after ponies, rather than the stories. To me (and to Vanessa) that seems an odd inclusion, but I was thinking about it and actually I think it isn't. It's children that have voted for it, after all, and so I've been asking myself why they've gone for this title. The pony care books I know about (those you can get in mainstream book shops, rather than saddlers) tend to be the Dorling Kindersley style which is absolutely straight down the line realistic, illustrated with pho...

Many thanks to Susanna for sending me the link to this article in The Guardian . It's interesting. As the owner of a girl, I've looked at the sort of covers that are prevalent now on books aimed at girls, and thought "hmmmm" to myself. Aiming books at one sex or the other of course isn't new: in the 1920s to 1940s if you saw a book with girls thundering down a hockey field on the cover you'd be pretty sure boys weren't its target audience. And publishers after all do need to sell the books, and badging them means people who like that sort of book know in advance they're getting something they'll probably like. I do it myself when bookhunting - I can spot a 1970s and older Puffin paperback at 20 paces. And covers do make a difference. My daughter still hasn't read Ballet Shoes , as despite my having several lovely early Puffins, she wants to read the one with the funky new cover. Never mind the fact what's inside is (probably) ide...