Funke, Cornelia

About the author

Cornelia Funke is better known for her Inkheart trilogy, which was made into a film. Saving Mississippi is one of her earlier books, and was published in her native Germany in 1997. Her publisher in the UK, Barry Cunningham of Chicken House, heard about the story when Cornelia was taking him to visit her horse. He had it translated in time for Chicken House’s 10th birthday.

Cornelia Funke had the original idea for the story on a snowy visit to Venice, and she was also inspired by her own family and Icelandic pony, all living then on the outskirts of Hamburg.

Finding the book
Easy to find secondhand.

Links and sources
Cornelia Funke’s website
Chicken House edition of Saving Mississippi


Bibliography (pony books only)


Saving Mississippi

Chicken House, Frome, 2010, trans Anthea Bell. 181 pp.
Originally published as: Hände weg von Mississippi, Cecilie Dressler, 1997, 189 pp.

Emma’s grandmother runs an animal sanctuary, and every holiday, Emma goes to stay with her. One holiday is different, because her grandmother buys her a horse. The horse belonged to an old friend, Mr Clipperbush, who died, and left the horse with no one to look after him. Unfortunately, Mr Clipperbush’s long-lost nephew wants the horse back, and will stop at nothing to get his way.