About the author
Dandi Daley Mackall is a Christian author who has produced several horse series where the protagonist’s faith is an important part of the plot. I’ve read the first in the Winnie the Horse Gentler series, Wild Thing, which is a good example of the genre. Mackall resists the temptation to thrust her faith down the reader’s throat, and the heroine’s faith is well delineated as a natural part of her life. She’s written, to date, four horse series, one series which includes horse stories and a standalone horse story, and some equine non fiction. Her series are aimed at all ages from early readers up.
Mackall is an astoundingly prolific author: to date she’s written around 400 books. Her range is astonishing; she writes mysteries, early readers, love stories, dog and cat stories, books for adults…. There seems to be nothing she does not produce. She initially started writing for adults, but once she had children of her own, started writing for them. As the children grew, she grew with them, and as she says, she now writes for every age.
Her series reflect current equine preoccupations. Winnie the Horse Gentler and Horsefeathers feature girls who use horse whispering. There is a strong background of morality in her work; her horse series for the young, Bob, focuses on a different life lesson in each title, and her latest series, Back Yard Horses, focuses on just that. They are ordinary horses that anybody could own, not the elite creatures and elite competitions that some modern series, both in the USA and the UK, have concentrated on, which provide wonderful wish fulfilment, but entirely lack the “me too” element that children need in at least some of their reading.
When she was growing up, the family had horses – her father, a doctor, delivered the local vet’s babies in exchange for care for the family’s horses and dogs. She now has horses of her own, and lives with her family in Ohio.
Finding the books
All the books are easy to find, and all appear to be in print.
Links and sources
Dandi Daley Mackall’s website
Dandi Daley Mackall’s blog
Dandi Daley Mackall on Zondervan
Series
Winnie the Horse Gentler
Wild Thing
Eagle Star
Bold Beauty
Midnight Mystery
Unhappy Appy
Gift Horse
Friendly Foal
Buckskin Bandit
Starlight Animal Rescue
Runaway 2008
Dark Horse 2009
Horsefeathers
Horsefeathers
Horse Cents
Horse Whispers in the Air
A Horse of a Different Colour
All the King’s Horses
Horse Angel
Home is Where Your Horse Is
A Horsefeathers Mystery
Backyard Horses
Horse Dreams
Cowboy Bob
Chasing Dreams
Night Mare
Bob the Horse
A Horse Named Bob
Bob’s Great Escape
A Perfect Pony
Double Trouble
Bibliography (horse books only)
Horsefeathers
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 189 pp.
Scoop lives on a horse farm, but they’re struggling. However, by trusting God and befriending a mysterious and wealthy new neighbour, Scoop helps to find a way to keep both the farm and her beloved horse Orphan.
Horse Cents!
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 191 pp.
A wayward and difficult horse named Ham threatens the peace at Scoop’s horse farm.
Horse Whispers in the Air
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 191 pp.
After she discovers what her grandfather had been collecting in jars which appeared to be empty, Scoop understands that although he had Alzheimer’s, he remembered the past.
A Horse of a Different Color
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 192 pp.
When faced with the possible loss of Horsefeathers Stables, Scoop gets caught up in a series of white lies which she later regrets.
All the King’s Horses
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 192 pp.
Scoop volunteers to work with some newly donated horses at the Horsefeathers Stable.
Horse Angels
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 192 pp.
Scoop prays that God will keep her horses safe, solve her friend Jen’s health problems, and make a wild horse trust people again.
Home is Where Your Horse Is
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 190 pp.
When Scoop meets the beautiful and glamorous Twila Twopennies and is invited to help out at her lavish stables, Scoop imagines that Twila is the mother who gave her up for adoption fifteen years earlier.
Horsefeathers’ Mystery
Concordia Publishing, St Louis, MO, 2000, 191 pp.
Sixteen-year-old orphan Scoop, a gifted gentler of horses, does not believe that racing is good for horses, but becomes involved with the sport after she and her coworkers agree to stable and help train a special filly.
Wild Thing
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2002, 171 pp.
Winnie loves horses, but after her mother died, the family have moved time after time. Her dad just can’t settle. Then Winnie gets the chance to buy a horse – but how can she earn enough to do it, and persuade her father that she and her sister just want, this time, to stay put?
Eager Star
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2002, 181 pp.
Winnie starts a new school, and a new business gentling horses. However, not only does she have to cope with the horse, Eagle Star, but his teenage owner too.
Bold Beauty
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2002, 184 pp.
Winnie takes over a fearful jumper, but he’ll test her to the limits.
Midnight Mystery
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2002, 195 pp.
Winnie is determined to find out who is sabotaging her new friend Ramon’s chances to become a star circus performer.
Unhappy Appy
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2003, 183 pp.
Winnie finds there’s something wrong with an appaloosa, and with its owner, who’s supposed to be a friend, too.
Gift Horse
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2003, 205 pp.
A mysterious horse appears in the field, and Winnie has to struggle with an old mare, and a foal too.
Friendly Foal
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2004, 217 pp.
Twelve-year-old Winnie faces three big problems – an orphan foal who won’t eat, the miniature horse she has trouble training, and a classmate who seems to be an unreliable friend.
Buckskin Bandit
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2004, 183 pp.
An abused buckskin disappears from the rundown Happy Trails stable, Winnie and her friend Kaylee set out to investigate.
Runaway
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2008, 206 pp.
Dakota Brown used to love all things “horse” until she lost everything, including hope. The minuteshe sets foot on her foster parents’ farm – Starlight Animal Rescue – she plans her escape. But can an “impossible” horse named Blackfire and this quirky collection of animal lovers be the home she’s always dreamed of?
Dark Horse
Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Ill, 2009, 206 pp.
Hank is the all-American, popular, cool guy at Starlight Animal Rescue.. But a tragic fire has Hank questioning everything including his ability to rescue anything, even himself. With a burned, wild horse and a lost cat at stake, Winnie, the Horse Gentler, now a senior in high school, and Catman Coolidge will have to join Hank, bringing Nickers and everything they’ve got to save Starlight Animal Rescue.
A Horse Named Bob
Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Mich, 2011, 32 pp, illus Claudia Wolf
Jen loves horses but her parents cannot afford to buy her one, and so when Bob arrives next door it seems her prayers have been answered until she realizes that neither Bob, nor his new caretaker, Mrs Gray, seems to want her friendship.
Bob’s Great Escape
Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Mich, 2011, 32 pp, illus Claudia Wolf
When Bob the horse disappears from his pasture and Mrs Gray accuses Jen of having left the gate open, Jen has a hard time forgiving her for not believing the truth.
Double Trouble
Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Mich, 2011, 32 pp, illus Claudia Wolf.
Perfect Pony
Zonderkidz, Grand Rapids, Mich, 2011, 32 pp, illus Claudia Wolf.
Jen and her best friend, Dave, have been having fun riding Bob the retired plough horse together,but when Dave gets a pretty pony for his birthday, Jen becomes jealous.
Dreams of a Dancing Horse
Bloomsbury Children’s Books, New York, 2011, 166 pp, illus Guy Francis
Fred, a plough horse on an Oklahoma farm, dreams of being Federico the Dancing Horse, but his antics cause trouble and he is sent away, to seek not only his dream but a home where he might truly belong.
Horse Dreams
Tyndale House, Carol Stream, Ill., 2011, 148 pp.
Horse-crazy fourth-grader Ellie James constantly dreams about having a horse of her own, and God finally seems to have answered her prayers, but not with the gleaming black stallion she has been longing for.
Cowboy Colt
Tyndale House, Carol Stream, Ill., 2011, 150 pp.
Fourth-graders Ellie and Colt have been best friends since kindergarten, but when Colt starts treating Ellie badly and even ignores her younger, deaf brother, she wonders if she should continue to pray for a horse for Colt, as she has been ever since she got her own horse.
Chasing Dream
Tyndale House, Carol Stream, Ill., 2012, 142 pp.
Even though she has spent the week doing selfish things, nine-year-old Ellie asks God for help when her beloved horse becomes sick.
Nightmare
Tyndale House, Carol Stream, Ill., 2012, 144 pp.
When someone claiming to be her horse’s original owner shows up and wants the horse back, fourth-grader Ellie prays for a miracle.
