Pony book
Pony books, pony stories or pony fiction form a genre in children's literature of stories featuring children, teenagers, ponies and horses, and the learning of equestrian skills, especially at a pony club or riding school.
Development of genre
The novel Black Beauty, although about a horse and not a pony, is seen as a forerunner of pony book fiction.[1][2]
Pony books themselves began to appear in the late 1920s.[1] 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."[1]
Critical commentary
The pony book genre is "frequently deemed idealistic,"[3] "cater[ing] for those typical fantasies of perfect friendship with an idealized companion."[4]
A critic noted in 1996 that the genre had "been relegated firmly to the sidelines".[5]
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 toys would be compelled to add to their collection.[2] The article noted an alternative view of the value of pony fiction; it introduces young readers to wider literature.[6]
Authors of pony books
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- Belinda Rapley
- Kitty Barne
- Gillian Baxter
- Judith Berrisford
- Jeanne Betancourt
- Joanna Cannan
- Joanna Campbell
- Peter Clover
- Primrose Cumming
- Ruby Ferguson
- Mary Gervaise
- Golden Gorse
- Marguerite Henry
- Patricia Leitch
- Jenny Oldfield
- K. M. Peyton
- Pullein-Thompson sisters Josephine, Diana, and Christine
- Stacy Gregg
- Allen W. Seaby
- Pat Smythe
- Mary Treadgold
- Will James
- The pair of schoolgirls, Katharine Hull and Pamela Whitlock, who wrote The Far-Distant Oxus (1937
See also
References
- ^ a b c Cridland, Clarissa (5 November 2010). "Pony Books: A Brief Introduction". collectingbooksandmagazines.com. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- ^ a b c Kendrick, Jenny (Winter 2009). "Riders, Readers, Romance: A Short History of the Pony Story". Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures. 1 (2): 183–202. doi:10.1353/jeu.2010.0012.
- ^ a b c Thiel, Liz (January 2002). "The Dark Horse: Ruby Ferguson and the Jill Pony Stories". The Lion and the Unicorn. 26 (1): 112–122. doi:10.1353/uni.2002.0012.
- ^ Tucker, Nicholas (1982). "The Child and the Book: A Psychological and Literary Exploration". Cambridge UP (161). Cambridge.[3]
- ^ Haymonds, Alison (1996). "Pony Books". In Hunt, Peter (ed.). International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. London: Routledge.[3]
- ^ Moss, Elaine (1976). "On the Tail of the Seductive Horse". Signal (19): 27–30.[2]
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