Elizabeth Bleecker Meigs
Elizabeth Bleecker Meigs was born in Pasadena, California, and was descended from
old New York families. She was educated at the
Notre Dame Convent on Staten Island
and the Packer Institute in Brooklyn. She lived in New York.
She wrote some historical novels for children (one, Candle in the Sky, was about Joan of Arc), as well as five horse books. Two of them are about the same characters: Janie Scarlett (Miss Pooh), and her life with her family on their farm.
Many thanks to Alison MacCallum and Lisa Catz for all their help with this section.
Finding the Books: The books are generally reasonably easy to find in the US. Silver Quest was the only one to be published in the UK: it is difficult to find and tends to be expensive.
Sources and Links:
Dustjackets of the author’s books
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibilography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Bibliography -
The Silver Quest
Bobbs-
Frederick Muller, London, 1955, illus Frederick T Chapman, 155 pp.
Cortes brought an Arab stallion to Mexico: no one could lay hands on him, but sometimes
ranchers found
silver foals running with their herds. The horse’s descendants all
had his Arab looks. No one knew when
the silver stallion died, as people still claimed
to see him. Chela first learns of the legend through a fiesta
gift: a tiny silver
statue. Will she ever manage to see the horse?
Blue Palomino
Dutton, 1955, illus Charles Geer
“Buffalo Bill” makes his living giving riding lessons to the children of his seaside
village. Then he is sent his
grandneice, Susannah, to raise. Susannah becomes friends
with young Dusty Clayton. A blue Palomino
comes into the pictures. Eventually Susannah
is able to head for Texas to open a stud farm.
Scarlet Hill
Bobbs-
Miss Pooh (Janie Scarlett) is home from her first year away at boarding school, and
is back at Scarlet
Hill, the family farm. There is much to be seen; pigs, a muddy-
a little colt. Janie, for her birthday, gets another
black horse, and she and her sisters spend their summer
learning to train them.
The White Winter
Bobbs-
Miss Pooh makes nine wishes for her birthday. She wants her sisters to come home
for the weekend,
Father Storm to come for her birthday dinner, and thirdly, a King’s
son. Despite the friendship of a collie,
a yellow cat and a wild young stallion,
Miss Pooh was lonely.
Sunflight
Dutton, New York, 1951, illus 118 pp.
Felipe loves Sunflight, the Palomino stallion, better than all things. He is the
only one who can control him.
Sunflight is stolen, but manages to escape his captor.
He runs wild. Meanwhile Felipe has been accused of
stealing the horse, and when
they do meet again, it’s doubtful that Felipe will be able to claim him.
Miss Pooh
Scarlet Hill
The White Winter
