The Horses of Follyfoot

Follyfoot #4

by Monica Dickens

Dora is invited out to America to help set up a home of rest for horses. When she leaves and is given a horse to take back to Follyfoot, she can't believe her luck. But once they're home things start to go badly wrong. One of the horses falls ill. And it looks like the same epidemic that is sweeping America . . . Has Dora's horse brought the disease to England?

Genres: Horses, Childrens

140 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 1992

About the author

From the publisher: MONICA DICKENS, born in 1915, was brought up in London and was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens. Her mother's German origins and her Catholicism gave her the detached eye of an outsider; at St Paul's Girls' School she was under occupied and rebellious. After drama school she was a debutante before working as a cook. One Pair of Hands (1939), her first book, described life in the kitchens of Kensington. It was the first of a group of semi autobiographies of which Mariana (1940), technically a novel, was one. 'My aim is to entertain rather than instruct,' she wrote. 'I want readers to recognise life in my books.' In 1951 Monica Dickens married a US naval officer, Roy Stratton, moved to America and adopted two daughters. An extremely popular writer, she involved herself in, and wrote about, good causes such as the Samaritans. After her husband died she lived in a cottage in rural Berkshire, dying there in 1992.
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Reviews

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I WILL finish the book, as I am a big fan of kitsch. But, oh dear; it's not looking very promising! Despite how most people will remember it, because of the catchy theme tune, the TV series was actually very gritty, realistic and sophisticated in its subject matter. The previous books in the Follyfoot series were written after Cobbler's Dream, the book that initially inspired the TV series. This book was actually well written and had some depth to it and the following Follyfoot books were quite similar in tone and had to deftly manouvre the set-up from that in the original book, to the little "family" that the TV programme revolved around. So far, this book is just looking like a cash-in, following the popularity of the TV series. The best children's books aren't written as if they are for children. Unfortunately, this one is aimed squarely at the programme's fan base and is more like a cartoon strip version of the series, with all the depth and gritty reality of the "Look-In" comic strips of Follyfoot, at the time!

Well, the book lived up to it's early promise; idiotic, childish devices and one simplistic storyline. Until, that is, the final few chapters, where Monica Dickens seems to have realised that she hasn't followed the episodic format and throws in two or three quickly cobbled together stories. But, with beginning, middle and end all taking place within a few pages, they might as well have been left out. Oh dear! Still, I suppose Monica Dickens must have been happy to take the money!

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another story of horse rescue, based on the TV series (which was originally based on one of her books anyway) by Monica Dickens. As always, tragedy and humor are balanced, and we have another delightful book. Dora goes to America, and falls foul of transatlantic differences. Great fun.