About the author
Shelley Peterson (b.1952) was trained as an actress. She has over 100 acting credits, and starred in Canadian sitcom Not My Department. She began writing for her daughter, who had gone in one year from being one of the popular crowd to being anything but. Her daughter encouraged her to finish the book, Dancer, but it was her mother who made sure it didn’t stay hidden in her desk drawer.
Her books explore situations where uncool heroines; very far away from being in the popular crowd at school, explore growing up. In an often hurtful world, they find sanctuary, and gain confidence, through horses.
Finding the books
All are in print.
Links and sources
Shelley Peterson’s website
Shelley Peterson on IMdb
Series
Abby
Dancer
Abby Malone
Stagestruck
Bird
Sundancer
Mystery at Saddle Creek
Dark Days at Saddle Creek
Bibliography (horse books only)
Dancer
Porcupine’s Quill, Ontario, 1996, 196 pp.
Hilary is sixteen when, with Dancer, the horse she has rehabilitated, she wins a trophy jumping at the Royal Winter Fair. Her prize is an invitation to perform in England before the Queen, but all this is complicated by the unwelcome attentions of Samuel Owens, who wants Dancer for his niece, and will stop at nothing to win.
Abby Malone
Porcupine’s Quill, Ontario, 1999, 268 pp, illus Marybeth Drake
Nothing is going right for Abby. Her father’s in prison, her mother drinks, and they have no money. Her dreams of riding are as distant as the moon. However, an elderly couple who live near Abby take an interest in her, and help her as she plans to clear her father’s name, and win a steeplechase.
Stagestruck
Key Porter Books Ltd, Ontario, 2002, 262 pp, illus Marybeth Drake
Key Porter Books, Ltd, Ontario, 2010, revised edition
Abby is out for a ride on her favourite horse when they take refuge in a barn from a storm. Inside Abby discovers the barn is in fact a deserted theatre. Life is full for Abby; not only is there the mystery of the theatre to unravel, she has to train Hilary’s show jumper, Dancer, and over everything, there is the malice of Samuel Owens.
Sundancer
Key Porter Books Ltd, Ontario, 2006, 312 pp, illus Marybeth Drake
Dancing Cat Books, reprint (date uncertain)
Sundancer is suspicious, and not far off dangerous. He suits Bird however, a girl who’s not spoken since she was six, and who is being brought up by her aunt, not her mother. Bird’s not good with people, but she is with animals, so why can’t she get through to Sundancer?
Mystery at Saddle Creek
Key Porter Books Ltd, Ontario, 2010, 308 pp, illus Marybeth Drake
Bird is staying with her Aunt Hannah at Saddle Creek, but she doesn’t get the peaceful time with Sunny that she was hoping for. A woman is brutally attacked near Saddle Creek. No one knows who did it, but everyone has plenty of theories – theories they’re not shy of sharing. As the neighbourhood lurches into vigilantism, Bird struggles to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Dark Days at Saddle Creek
Dancing Cat Books, 2012
Bird is helping expose the nasty underbelly of the showing world, as she plans to ride Sunny in the Caledon Derby. Soon she is having to deal with her demanding mother, rescue horses, and carry on in her search for information about her father.