Star

by Jo Ann Simon

Shy overweight fourth grader Toni loses her feelings of clumsiness and self-consciousness when she forges a special bond with a horse during riding lessons and succeeds in her first horse show.

62 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 1989

About the author

Jo Ann Simon (a/k/a Joanna Campbell) is the author of over thirty published novels for both adults and young adults. Over a million copies of her books have been sold nationally and internationally. She loves horses, gardening, history, antiques, reading and travelling.

Her published works include:

Twice Young (which combines a fast paced mystery with romance and ghostly overtones), Beloved Captain (available in Kindle), Love Once In Passing (available in Kindle), Love Once Again (available in Kindle), as well as The Thoroughbred Series (Harper Collins) written as Joanna Campbell, and many other titles.

She welcomes hearing from readers who can reach her at joannsimon@gwi.com. or at her Facebook page, Jo Ann Simon.

* Source: Amazon author page

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the most realistic horse book Jo Ann Simon ever wrote. Never heard of her before? Well, her pen name was Joanna Campbell. Under that name, she wrote three books about girls and horses -- and then began the long running HarperCollins series Thoroughbred. She wrote the first 14 books before quitting due to burnout.

Anyway, this was about a girl becoming happier through riding lessons, working at the stable, and falling in love with a friendly school horse named Star.

It's a happy little story. Unfortunately, that's all it is. There really is no baddie or conflict. Just happy, happy, happy. Might make for a nice chance of pace from your other books, but does remind you why CONFLICT is so important to a story.

The illustrations are so-so. The protagonist is described as being fat ... but is not drawn that way. Guess there are some things that little kids shouldn't see.

Readers of the Thoroughbred series will be amused to note that there is a Brad who is a fellow riding student, but this Brad is not a bad guy.

The last foal of Ashleigh's Wonder was a chestnut named Wonder's Star. I don't know for sure if the ghostwriter was making an in-joke about this book, but God, I hope so.

If you are curious about this book, it's currently up on The Open Library. I used to have a copy in the 1990s. I either sold it or gave it away. I have no plans to replace it.