Rereading: HORSESHOES AND HANDLEBARS by M. E. Atkinson

Illustrated by Sheila Rose

At the end of her writing career, children’s novel author Atkinson abandoned series books for two standalone stories, this is one, and it’s quite good.

Five children are staying for the summer at a cottage run by a middle-aged woman, Miss Shepperson. Returning for a second year are Guin and Margaret. Guin loves riding, and Margaret also rides, but is more inclined to read and relax. Michael is on his own, and the youngest, but also a fan of horses, and hoping Guin will teach him to ride. Then there are Fabian and Richard, brothers from the city, who are not happy about being in the country, and have no interest in horses, though they do ride bicycles. A rivalry between Guin and Fabian leads to a challenge: a four-day cross-country trek, horses versus bicycles, to see which can get to the end first. It’s a fun idea, and Atkinson makes it more exciting by having Guin unexpectedly entering a point-to-point horse race along the way to help out an ailing cousin. Then one of the horses runs off, and everyone has to search for it, with surprising results.

I enjoyed this, and the illustrations are excellent. Recommended.

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