About the author
Mildred Mastin Pace (d.1992) was born in St Louis, and moved to Kentucky at the age of 15. She worked her way through college by selling articles to newspapers, and carried on writing once through college. Her works were all (as far as I’m aware) non fiction, and included Clara Barton (1941), a biography, which won the Herald Tribune Spring Festival Prize for most outstanding children’s book for the older age group. Probably her most famous book is Old Bones, the Wonder Horse (1955), the story of Exterminator, a famous race horse nicknamed Old Bones because of his bony ugliness as a foal, but who proved a champion despite his looks.
Finding the book
Very easy, though very good firsts with good dustjackets will be pricey. It’s available as an ebook.
Links and sources
Biographical information on the author at Barnes & Noble (link no longer extant)
Exterminator at the Racing Hall of Fame
Terri Wear: Horse Stories: An Annotated Bibliography
Thanks to Susan Bourgeau for the picture
Bibliography (horse books only)
Old Bones, the Wonder Horse
Whittlesey House, New York, 1955, 119 pp, illus Wesley Dennis
Published in Three Great Horse Stories, Whittlesey House, New York, 1955
with Henry V Larom’s Mountain Pony, and The Pinto Colt
Scholastic, New York, 1974, pb
As Kentucky Derby Champion, Jesse Stuart Foundation, pb, 1993
Exterminator was bought as a training horse to race with the famous horse Sun Briar, but Old Bones (the horse’s nickname) was a wonder horse; he’d race on any track in any weather.
