Photo Finish

Saddle Club #43

by Bonnie Bryant

It's the invitation of a lifetime. When Judy Barker, the Pine Hollow veterinarian, offers Lisa a chance to visit the stables at the racetrack, Lisa jumps at the opportunity. She's been working on her skills as a photographer, and she'd love to take pictures of some of the Thoroughbreds -- especially a beautiful stallion that's training for the upcoming Preakness race.

Then Lisa, Carole, and Stevie uncover what could be a plot to make the stallion so sick he can't run. Will Lisa's photographs help the girls bring a high-stakes schemer to justice?

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Young Adult, Middle Grade

144 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

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

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another highly enjoyable Saddle Club book. In this one the girls head to the track with Max, Deborah and Judy. They discover moldy hay in a horses stall and become convinced that it didn't end up there accidentally, so they set out to figure out who tried to sabotage (or possibly kill) the horse, and why. It's a pretty fun mystery.
I always liked the books where they found themselves at the racetrack, though in fairness, I also enjoyed all the others too!🏇
There's also a really cute goat in this one, called Blackie (Black Hole, because he eats everything!). 🐐

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Despite the fact that Lisa was the focus in this one, she gets the opportunity to work with a veterinarian at the horse track. I am a big fan of horse racing, and would love to spend the day at the track. This was a fun book.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Yang Eiram · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very awesome!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much "whodunit", not enough girls-learning-about-horses