About the author
Jeanne Mellin was childhood friends with Nancy Caffrey, and illustrated her Somebody’s Pony after the two girls made a childhood pact to write and illustrate a horse book. Both girls were members of Margaret Cabell Self’s New Canaan Mounted Troupe.
Jeanne had her formal art training at the Rhode Island School of Design, and has been on many painting trips to England. Her style is in the tradition of the great English equestrian artists, Stubb, Herring and Munnings. She still works as an illustrator, and has illustrated Ellen Feld’s Morgan horse titles for Willowbend Publishing.
Finding the book
The original book is very difficult to find indeed, has now been reprinted by Willowbend Publishing.
Links and sources
An excellent article on Jeanne Mellin’s work at The Pony Book Chronicles
Jeanne Mellin at the American Morgan Horse Association (PDF)
Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for all her help with this section.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Pidgy’s Surprise
E P Dutton, New York, 1955, illus the author
Willow Bend Publishing, MA, 2010
Cindy Sawyer, who owned Shetland pony Pidgy, dreamed of the beautiful horse
she would have one day, a horse like Pete Greene’s Thoroughbred. Her dream
became an obsession. After a summer full of fun and riding, with Pidgy actually
winning a prize, one morning Pidgy was missing. Not until then did Cindy realise
how much she really loved her pony. Her mother and father, it turns out, have
something to do with all this, as Cindy finds out when Pete Greene asks Cindy
to hurry over to the Greene farm for a surprise.
