About the author
Amy Brown got her first pony unexpectedly. Her father was bitten by the horse bug and bought himself a horse, Poncho. When he started to compete, he needed a horse box. When he found one, the seller offered him a pony to go with it, so Amy, at the age of five, got Twinks. She carried on riding, and competed in regional and national showj umping events. She was a keen devotee of the English pony story, particularly Ruby Ferguson’s Jill, and when she gave up riding and took up writing, pony books were what she decided to write. She described Jill’s Gymkhana as ‘the book that changed her life,’ as she read it so often, and based her own books on it. She loved ‘its sense of humour, weird 1950s references to Bing Crosby, and brilliant line drawings.’
Her Pony Tales series is about a girl who starts off her life as a rider in difficult circumstances, but manages to overcome them and become a successful horsewoman.
Finding the books
In print, but not easily available in the UK. Expensive large print editions are available on Amazon, but other than that, the only option is importing them, and that is not cheap.
Sources and links
Amy Brown on the Christchurch Kids blog
More on Amy Brown on the Christchurch Kids blog
Series
Pony Tales
Jade and the Stray
Jade at the Champs
Jade and the Hunters
Jade’s Summer of Horses
Bibliography (pony books only)
Jade and the Stray
HarperCollins Publishers, Auckland, New Zealand, 2010, 240 pp.
Jade has moved to Flaxton to live with her grandfather. Her mother is dead, and her father is in prison. Jade escapes her miseries by thinking about ponies, and then one turns up in the pound. Jade knows she has to save the stray.
Jade at the Champs
HarperCollins Publishers, Auckland, New Zealand, 2011
Jade has her own pony; her Dad’s out of prison and has a job in Flaxton and life looks good. She’s made the junior team, and her coach is Olympic gold medallist, Michaela Lewis. But then her pony, Pip, goes down with laminitis, and so Jade has to ride Dorian, who is beautiful but temperamental. And all this while Jade is worrying about whether Pip will ever recover.
Jade and the Hunters
HarperCollins Publishers, Auckland, New Zealand, 2011
When Jade offered to take the worst behaved pony at the Championships home, it seemed a brave decision. Now that the pony’s back home, Jade is too nervous even to get on the five-year-old monster, Taniwha. Perhaps Zoe is right when she suggests that hunting is just what the pony needs. Jade goes to spend the winter holidays on the Deaths’ sheep station, hoping it’s what she needs to get her confidence back.
Jade’s Summer of Horses
HarperCollins Publishers, Auckland, New Zealand, 2012, 256 pp.
Jade needs to find a new home for Pip, and school difficult Taniwha. Good news comes when she hears Becca’s Aunt is looking for a bombproof beginner’s pony for her oceanside riding school. She asks Jade to come and spend the summer there helping out and learning about endurance riding. It seems like heaven. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what a property developer thinks. Jade is determined to save the land for the ponies.
