Classic pony books
Available again
There are 19 titles out now, and coming up are:
January: Marjorie Mary Oliver & Eva Ducat
Sea Ponies, Ponies & Caravans, The Ponies of Bunts
February: Josephine Pullein-Thompson
All Change, Pony Club Camp, One Day Event
March: Hazel M Peel
Dido and Rogue, Night Storm the Flat Racer
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Book Spotlight
Joanna Cannan
I Wrote a Pony Book
Available now
Joanna Cannan was one of the founders of the pony book genre, and mother of the Pullein-Thompsons. But she didn’t regard the pony book as an unmixed blessing, and in I Wrote a Pony Book you can see her take a swipe at some plums of the genre, including some of her daughters’ work. In the process, she also produced a fine school story, with a witty and at times biting picture of relationships at school, whether they be with friends or teachers. Heroine Alison is no star, either at school or at home (her parents, she thinks, would have preferred a boy. Or at least a sporty girl). But what Alison does have is independence of mind.
This book is one of Joanna Cannan’s best children’s books, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Authors A–Z is where you’ll find information on pony book authors: the encyclopaedia part of the site
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Author Jane Badger
Heroines on Horseback
The pony book galloped onto the children’s book scene with a flick of its rosetted bridle, and has remained a fixture ever since. Brave girls and nervous ones, scruffy ponies and ornaments of the show ring cantered through pony tale after pony tale, all fallen upon by an audience desperate to read anything that reflected their own passion for the pony.
Featured Authors
Diana Pullein-Thompson
Like her sisters, Diana Pullein-Thompson (1925–2015) was best known for her pony books. Her first solo pony book was I Wanted a Pony (1946), which followed It Began with Picotee, written with her sisters.
Patricia Leitch
Patricia Leitch (1933–2015) had a varied career, before she settled down to writing. Thanks to her Jinny series, she is a must-read author if you want to do a serious study of how the pony book genre developed.
Caroline Akrill
Pony book authors don’t tend to do humour: perhaps it’s the undercurrent of morality that underpins most of the genre (you must take proper care of your pony ), but the pony book that makes you laugh out loud is rare.
Marianne Mjelva
Marianne Mjelva is a Norwegian author, who learned to ride when she was right. When she was 10, she wrote in her diary: ‘When I grow up I’m going to be a dog owner, a horse owner and a writer.’ She’s done all of those.
Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses. Read my blog here.
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Seven pony book myths
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A few things you might not know about pony books
Black Beauty wasn’t the earliest pony book. The earliest one I’ve found is The Memoirs of Dick, the Little Poney,…
The flood: pony books in the 1950s
The 1950s saw a massive increase in the number of pony books published. The war was over; rationing was coming…
About Jane Badger
I’m a freelance writer, editor and proof reader. I’ve written Heroines on Horseback (2013), a gallop through the pony book in children’s fiction, and have written the world’s largest website on equine literature.
- My earliest horse memory is being bitten on the arm by a piebald who lived in the field at the end of our garden. It did not put me off.
