Ellen Feld is an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, most notably of

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

s about

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s, in particular,

Morgan Horse The Morgan horse is one of the earliest horse breeds developed in the United States. Tracing back to the foundation sire Figure, later named Justin Morgan after his best-known owner, Morgans served many roles in 19th-century American histo ...

s are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

horse breed A horse breed is a selectively bred population of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a broader sense to define landrace animals of a common phenotype located within a lim ...

which traces its roots to

Figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...

, also known as Justin Morgan, the first Morgan Horse, born in

West Springfield, Massachusetts West Springfield is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 28,835 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is also known as "West Si ...

, in 1789. Feld's work has appeared regularly in such publications as ''The Morgan Horse Magazine'', ''Stable Management'', ''Just About Horses'', ''Tri-State Horse'', ''Equestrian'' and ''The Appaloosa Journal''. Feld lives in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

with her husband, two children (Nick and Holly), seven horses, and assorted pets.

Works

The 'Morgan Horse' series (reading level ages 9–13) includes ''Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse'' and its sequel, ''Frosty: The Adventures of a Morgan Horse.'' Both books were selected (in different years) as winners of Children's Choices, an award co-sponsored by the

International Reading Association The International Literacy Association (ILA), formerly the International Reading Association (IRA), is an international global advocacy and member professional organization that was created in 1956 to improve reading instruction, facilitate dialo ...

and The Children's Book Council. In 2007, Breyer Model Horses selected ''Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse'' to be packaged with one of their model horses. Both books were adopted by

Renaissance Learning Renaissance Learning, Inc. (also known simply as Renaissance) is a software as a service and learning analytics company that makes cloud-based, Pre-K–12 educational software and adaptive assessments. Renaissance employs about 1,000 employees in ...

for their

Accelerated Reader Accelerated Reader (AR) is a website used to assist students with reading skills. Components ATOS ATOS is a readability formula designed by Renaissance Learning. Books with quizzes in Accelerated Reader are assigned an ATOS readability level. ...

program. The third and fourth books in the Morgan Horse series are titled ''Rusty: The High-Flying Morgan Horse'' and ''Robin: The Lovable Morgan Horse''. "Rusty" was also added to the

program. Both "Rusty" and "Robin" have received the Adding Wisdom Award from

Parent to Parent A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male ...

, an organization dedicated to recognizing excellence in children's products. In December 2006, this organization further honored these books by selecting ''Robin'' as one of their top 20 children's products of 2006, and ''Rusty'' as one of their top 100 products. The fifth book in the series is ''Annie: The Mysterious Morgan Horse''. ''Annie'' won a bronze medal in the

Moonbeam Children's Book Award Moonbeam may refer to: * Moonlight, the light that reaches Earth from the Moon * Moonbeam (band), a trance music group from Russia * Moonbeam, Ontario, a township in Canada * Moonbeam, a nickname of the American politician Jerry Brown (born 1938 ...

s and was a semi-finalist in the

Reader Views Literary Award A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

s. The sixth book in the 'Morgan Horse' series is "Rimfire: The Barrel Racing Morgan Horse." It was published in the 2009 and was selected by 'Tack 'n Togs' magazine as one of the 'Best New Products of 2009.' The seventh book in the 'Morgan Horse' series is "The Further Adventures of Blackjack: The Champion Morgan Horse," published in 2012. The same year, a photo book of the real horses behind the series, "Meet the Morgans" was also produced. Author Feld has published five titles for younger children: "Shadow: The Curious Morgan Horse," "

Justin Morgan Justin Morgan (February 28, 1747 – March 22, 1798) was a U.S. horse breeder and composer. He was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, and by 1788 had settled in Vermont. In addition to being a horse breeder and farmer, he was a teacher of ...

and the Big Horse Race," "Blackjack: The Magical Morgan Horse," "What Can I Do? A Donkey-Donk Story," and "What Does A Police Horse Do?" The first three books are 32-page full-color hardcover books for readers aged 5 to 7. "Shadow" is a fictional story about a young foal who goes on an adventure, "Justin Morgan" is a historical fiction book about a real race that the famous horse participated in. This race is still celebrated each year in Vermont with the 'Morgan Mile Trotting Races,' which is held on the same stretch of road that Justin Morgan raced over 200 years ago, in

Brookfield, Vermont Brookfield is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States. It was created by Vermont charter on August 5, 1781. The population was 1,244 at the 2020 census. Brookfield is best known for its floating bridge which spans Sunset Lake buoyed b ...

, and "Blackjack: The Magical Morgan Horse" is a story of a horse from a child's drawing coming to life. "What Can I Do? A Donkey-Donk Story" and "What Does A Police Horse Do?" use photos of real horses to tell stories about real horses/donkeys.

References

External links

Ellen Feld's biography at Willow Bend Publishing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feld, Ellen Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Massachusetts American children's writers