About the author
Lurlene McDaniel was born in 1944 in Philadelphia, and was educated at the University of South Florida. She started writing when her son was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of three. The experience changed the family forever. Random House write about their author “Everyone loves a good cry, and no one delivers heart-wrenching stories better than Lurlene McDaniel,” but this perhaps trivialises her work. Looked at as a body it seems unrelentingly drear, dealing as it does with bereavement, early death and serious illness, but these things do occur, and as McDaniel herself writes “I tell them that sometimes tragedy hits kids, too. They want answers. They want to know why. By using novels, I show ordinary kids confronting and overcoming great odds.”
Four of her books have some horse content.
Finding the books
Very easy to find.
Links and sources
Lurlene McDaniel’s on Wikipedia
Lurlene McDaniel at Penguin Random House
Bibliography (horse books only)
A Horse for Mandy
Darby Creek Publishing, 1981,
Willowisp, Ohio, 1986.
Laura and Mandy used to be the best of friends. They both loved horses. Surely nothing could come between them? But when Mandy finally gets a horse of her own, she spends all her time with it, and Laura and her horse are left on their own. Then Laura and her horse Diablo go missing
The Pony That Nobody Wanted
Willowisp Press, Ohio, 1982
Holly adopts a wild horse from the Government.
Where’s the Horse For Me?
Willowisp, Ohio, 1984, 128 pp.
Cindy and her new stepsister Beth are going to spend six weeks together on a ranch in Colorado, while Cindy’s dad is on honeymoon with Beth’s mother. This might not go well. Cindy’s stepsister is snobby and already has four horses of her own, whereas Cindy doesn’t have a horse, and won’t get one unless she can earn the money for it.
The Year of Luminous Love
Delacorte Press, New York, 2013
Some horsey background: Arie has had mental health issues and finds working with her horse a real help. Ciana falls for a cowboy; Eden’s boyfriend is controlling; together the three learn about life and love.