About the author
Heinrich Maria Denneborg (1909–87) was a German author and puppeteer. He worked at the City Library in Gelsenkirchen until 1939, where he regularly gave puppetry performances. He travelled throughout West Germany and Switzerland with his puppet shows. His first book appeared in 1932. He wrote numerous children’s books, of which at least three are horse related, and which were translated by Emile Capouya for D McKay. Jan and the Wild Horse (Jan und das Wildpferd) received the Deutschen Jugendbuchpreis in 1958.
Finding the books
The Jan books appear to be still in print in their original German. In translation, they are reasonably easy to find. None of the titles were published in the UK.
Links and sources
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Heinrich Maria Denneborg on Wikipedia
Thank you to Lisa Catz for the photograph.
Series
Jan
Jan and the Wild Horse
The Only Horse for Jan
Bibliography (horse books only)
Grisella the Donkey
D McKay Co, New York, 1957, 138 pp, illus Horst Lemke, trans Emile Capouya
Tino has a little donkey with an unusual talent. She can talk. Once Tino realises this, he takes her advice on many things, which leads them into adventure.
Jan and the Wild Horse
D McKay Co, 1958, 121 pp, illus Horst Lemke, trans Emile Capouya
Originally: Jan und das Wildpferd
C Dressler, Berlin, 1957, 141 pp, illus Horst Lemke
Jan is enthralled with the wild ponies who are rounded up once a year. Two ponies are raffled, and Jan is desperate to win one. He falls in love with a lame colt called Balthasar, but the colt is not at auction as he is to be slaughtered. The pony is then stolen, and found in Jan’s family barn, but it was not Jan who stole him. When the pony is found, he is packed off to the slaughterhouse, and Jan is convinced he will never see him again.
The Only Horse for Jan
D McKay Co, New York, 1961, 122 ppl, illus Horst Lemke, trans Emile Capouya
Originally Das Wildpferd Balthasar
C Dressler, Berlin, 1959, 141 pp, illus Horst Lemke
Balthasar has improved so much that he is now able to pull a cart, and Jan and his friend
drive Balthasar to Munster to visit the Knipperdolling.