Gift Horse

Saddle Club #40

by Bonnie Bryant

Will Stevie Have To Say Good-bye To No-Name?

Stevie Lake is ecstatic. After years of wanting a horse of her own, her parents have given her "No-Name," a beautiful Arabian-Saddlebred. And everyone can see that the frisky, sassy mare is the perfect match for a rider like fun-loving, Stevie. Now all she has to do to make "No-Name" hers is come up with a fitting name.

But before Stevie can find a name for the beautiful mare, her happiness is abruptly shattered. During a Pony Club exhibition, another girl claims that "No-Name" was stolen from her family's barn. Could Stevie's new mount really be the horse the older girl calls "Punk"? Is Stevie about to lose her dream horse forever?

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Animals, Realistic Fiction, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

American author of children's books. She is best known for creating the intermediate horse book series The Saddle Club, which was published from October 1988 until April 2001. The Saddle Club chronicled the adventures of thirteen-year-old Lisa Atwood and twelve-year-olds Stephanie "Stevie" Lake and Carole Hanson. The series was static in time; the girls never aged in 101 books, 7 special editions, and 3 Inside Stories.

Bonnie Bryant also wrote two spin-off series: Pony Tails, aimed at beginning readers, and Pine Hollow, aimed at teenage readers. The 16 Pony Tails books followed the lives of eight-year-olds May Grover, Corey Takamura, and Jasmine James. Pine Hollow featured Carole, Lisa, Stevie, and their new friends in a series set four years after The Saddle Club. Unlike The Saddle Club, Pine Hollow conformed to a realistic timeline. The 17 books took place over the span of less than a year. Later a television show called The Saddle Club, based on the books, was filmed in Australia.

Bonnie Bryant wrote at least 38 The Saddle Club books and 2 Pine Hollow books herself; after that they were taken over by a team of ghostwriters, a common practice in long-running children's book series. Ghostwriters for the Saddle Club and Pine Hollow books included Caitlin Macy (sometimes credited as Caitlin C. Macy), Catherine Hapka, Sallie Bissell, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Helen Geraghty, Tina deVaron, Cat Johnston, Minna Jung, and Sheila Prescott-Vessey.

Bonnie Bryant is also the author of many novelizations of movies, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Karate Kid, and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, written under her married name, B.B. Hiller. She also collaborated in the ghostwriting of The Baby-sitters Club Super Special #14: BSC in the USA, published under the name of its creator, Ann M. Martin.

Bonnie Bryant was born and raised in New York City. She met her husband, Neil W. Hiller, in college, where they both worked on the campus newspaper. They had two sons, Emmons Hiller and Andrew Hiller. Neil Hiller died in 1989. Many of Bonnie's books are dedicated to him.
***from wikipedia.org

Reviews

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good series for horse crazy young teens. I loved it when I was younger.

[Tarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stevie is really feeling as one with her horse, No-Name. So, when a strange girl randomly appears, proclaiming that No-Name is her own horse that was stolen, Stevie and her friends are enraged and flabbergasted.

Also, Veronica diAngelo shows a completely new side of her personality, which differs from her usual snobby self. This adds a dramatic flair to the story as it unfolds.

I thought I had the whole plot figured out after the first few chapters, but I'm glad the authors ended it differently. Get ready for some emotion.

[Cws]

JAR5-Bry