Pony books, pony stories or pony fiction form a
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
in
children's literature
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 ...
of stories featuring
children
A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...
,
teenager
Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...
s,
ponies
A pony is a type of small horse ('' Equus ferus caballus''). Depending on the context, a pony may be a horse that is under an approximate or exact height at the withers, or a small horse with a specific conformation and temperament. Compared ...
and
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, and the learning of
equestrian
The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse".
Horseback riding (or Riding in British English)
Examples of this are:
* Equestrian sports
*Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...
skills, especially at a
pony club
Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to educating youth about horses and riding. Pony Club organizations exist in over thirty countries worldwide.
Origins
Pony Club began in Great Britain in 1929 when the Institute of the ...
or
riding school An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...
.
Development of genre
The 1877 novel ''
Black Beauty
''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...
'', although about a horse and not a pony, is seen as a forerunner of pony book fiction.
Pony books themselves began to appear in the late 1920s.
In 1928 British lifestyle magazine ''
Country Life'' published
Golden Gorse's ''The Young Rider'' which went to a second edition in 1931, and a third in 1935. In the preface to the third edition, the author wrote: "Since then the outlook on children and their ponies has changed very much for the better." She also noted an increase in equestrian pastimes: "Five children seem to be learning to ride today for one who was learning seven years ago."
Critical commentary
The pony book genre is "frequently deemed idealistic,"
"cater
ngfor those typical fantasies of perfect friendship with an idealized companion."
A critic noted in 1996 that the genre had "been relegated firmly to the sidelines".
A 2009 article posed whether readers of pony-series fiction could do more than simply get another book in the series, much as a young collector of
My Little Pony
''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature c ...
toys would be compelled to add to their collection.
The article noted an alternative view of the value of pony fiction; it introduces young readers to wider literature.
Authors of pony books
*
Belinda Rapley
*
Enid Bagnold
Enid Algerine Bagnold, Lady Jones, (27 October 1889 – 31 March 1981) was a British writer and playwright known for the 1935 story ''National Velvet''.
Early life
Enid Algerine Bagnold was born on 27 October 1889 in Rochester, Kent, daught ...
*
Kitty Barne
Marion Catherine "Kitty" Barne (17 November 1882 – 3 February 1961) was a British screenwriter and author of children's books, especially on music and musical themes. She won the 1940 Carnegie Medal for British children's books.
Biography
Ba ...
*
Gillian Baxter
*
Judith M Berrisford
Mary Berrisford (born 1912) was a British writer of children's pony stories which are very similar to those of the Pullein-Thompson sisters, as well as other animal story and books on gardening. She was born in Staffordshire
Staffordshir ...
*
Jeanne Betancourt
Jeanne Betancourt (born October 2, 1941 in Vermont) is an American author and television script writer best known for her '' Pony Pals'' series of books.
Biography
Betancourt was born and raised in rural Vermont. She lived across from a dairy f ...
*
Bonnie Bryant
Barbara B. Hiller (born in New York City, New York, New York (state), New York, in 1946) is an American author; as Bonnie Bryant she wrote many children's books, children's and young adult fiction, young adult books; she is best known for writing ...
*
Joanna Cannan
Joanna Maxwell Cannan (27 May 1896 – 22 April 1961) was an English writer of pony books and detective novels, the former aimed mainly at children. She belonged to a family of prolific writers.
Life
Herself the youngest daughter of Charles Can ...
[
* ]Joanna Campbell
''Thoroughbred'' is a series of young-adult novels that revolves around Kentucky Thoroughbred racing and equestrianism. The series was started in 1991 by Joanna Campbell (better known as Jo Ann Simon, previously Haessig), and numbered 72 books, i ...
* Sheila Chapman
Sheila (alternatively spelled Shelagh and Sheelagh) is a common feminine given name, derived from the Irish name ''Síle'', which is believed to be a Gaelic form of the Latin name Caelia, the feminine form of the Roman clan name Caelius, mean ...
* Peter Clover
Peter Clover (b. Islington, North London, 9 June 1952) is an English children's book author and illustrator best known for the ''Sheltie the Shetland Pony'' series, featuring a young girl, Emma, and her shaggy Shetland pony. In addition Peter ...
* Primrose Cumming
Primrose Cumming (1915–2004) was a British writer of children's books.
Her writing career spanned over 30 years, and produced some fine examples of the pony book genre, combining accurate observation of human and equine with a certain wry hu ...
* Walter Farley
Walter Farley (born Walter Lorimer Farley, 26 June 1915 – 16 October 1989) was an American author, primarily of horse stories for children. His first and most famous work was ''The Black Stallion'' (1941), the success of which led to many ...
* Ruby Ferguson
Ruby Constance Annie Ferguson, née Ashby (28 July 1899 – 11 November 1966), was an English writer of popular fiction, including children's literature, romances and mysteries as R. C. Ashby and Ruby Fergunson. She is best known today for her ...
* Mary Gervaise
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
* Golden Gorse
* Marguerite Henry
Marguerite Henry (' Breithaupt; April 13, 1902 – November 26, 1997) was an American writer of children's books, writing fifty-nine books based on true stories of horses and other animals. She won the Newbery Medal for ''King of the Wind'', a 19 ...
* Patricia Leitch
Patricia Leitch born 13 July 1933, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, died 28 July 2015, was a Scottish writer, best known for her series of children's books in the pony story genre about Jinny Manders and her wild, traumatised Arabian horse Shanti ...
* Jenny Oldfield
Jenny Oldfield (born 8 August 1949) is an English author who wrote Definitely Daisy, Animal Alert, Home Farm Twins, the Half Moon Ranch series and other pony books.
The ''Horses of Half Moon Ranch'' series follows Matt Scott and his little sist ...
* Hazel M Peel
* K. M. Peyton
Kathleen Wendy Herald Peyton (born 2 August 1929), who writes primarily as K. M. Peyton, is a British author of fiction for children and young adults.
She has written more than fifty novels including the much loved " Flambards" series of storie ...
* Christine Pullein-Thompson
Christine Pullein-Thompson, later Christine Popescu and a nom de plume of Christine Keir (1 October 1925 – 2 December 2005) was a British horsewoman and writer known for her pony books. Her mother, her two sisters and her daughter also wrote p ...
[
* ]Diana Pullein-Thompson
Diana Pullein-Thompson, later Diana Farr (1 October 1925 – 21 September 2015) was a British horsewoman and writer known for her pony books. Her mother and two sisters also wrote and together they created a large number of children's books - and ...
[
* ]Josephine Pullein-Thompson
Josephine Mary Wedderburn Pullein-Thompson MBE (3 April 1924 – 19 June 2014), sometimes known as Josephine Mann, was a British writer known for her pony books. She was a leading member of the Pony Club and PEN International. Her mother and two ...
Pat Smythe
Patricia Rosemary "Pat" Smythe, OBE (22 November 1928 – 27 February 1996) was a British show jumper. She competed at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics, winning a team bronze medal in 1956. She served as president of the British Show Jumpin ...
* Mary Treadgold
* Will James
* Kristen Atkins
* The pair of schoolgirls, Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock, who wrote '' The Far-Distant Oxus'' (1937)
See also
References
{{Reflist
**
Children's books