Lamburn, Joan

About the author

Joan Lamburn wrote three animal stories: Mr Soloski’s Cats (1948), The Monkey Trick (1951) and The Mushroom Pony (1947). The Mushroom Pony is one of those truly bonkers stories, made even more so now having been overtaken by events. It’s about a foal whose mother has eaten a magic mushroom, and as a result the foal can fly. The book was published in the 1940s, so I assume that the 1940s variety of magic mushroom didn’t have quite the connotations it does now. It is impossible for me, at any rate, to read the book without having the alternative meanings hovering about, particularly when I read the dedication: ‘To Alyse… and Harry … Who know how Magic Mushrooms grow.’

The book is about Pansy, a mare who eats a magic mushroom. She then has a foal, Clippety Clop, who has wings on his feet: rather sweet little wings, as drawn by Phyllis Ginger. Pansy is sad as her foals keep being taken away from her, but Clippety Clop’s wings are a big help in keeping him around. Pansy of course can talk, and not only that, sing.

Finding the book
Very, very difficult to find indeed.

Links and sources
The British Library


Bibliography


The Mushroom Pony

Royle Publications Ltd, London, 1947, illus Phyllis Ginger. 63 pp.

Pansy’s foals keep being taken away from her, but when she eats a magic mushroom, she gives birth to a very special foal, Clippety Clop, who has winged feet.

(image – internal illustration)