Intent Upon Reading or Guilt-Free Kidlit

[callmemadam]

Comments

[slemslempike]

I have wanted to read The Young Netball Player ever since I read Intent Upon Reading. You've made me want to reread this now - I remember liking it very much when I read it.

[callmemadam]

It's so easy and quick to read. I picked it up at a boot sale last week. I agree that The Young Netball Player has great appeal.

[hartleyhare]

It's interesting that she deals with pony books - from my (admittedly very sketchy) reading in the field, there's been very little work on pony books as a genre (certainly in comparison to school stories, though I may be wrong). There's an article by Liz Thiel about the Jill series, but I no longer have an ATHENS username (must badger school and get them to register ...) I'd love to see an analysis of Patricia Leitch's books, too, though I've never been able to find anything. I'll definitely look out for this book, though.

[callmemadam]

Thanks for the link. I hadn't really thought of Jill as subversive, I must say, but everything I know about horses I learned from reading Jill's Gymkhana as a child. There's an article by Clarissa Cridland which appeared in Book & Magazine Collector and was also reproduced on the Collecting Books & Magazines site. It's not really critical, though, more an appreciative list. When critics do mention pony stories they tend, like Margery Fisher, to get into a discussion of how Monica Edwards is not really a pony book writer but much better. Monica Edwards is one of my top authors but I think it's unfair to dismiss the many very enjoyable pony books as if they were only about ponies.
When you say Patricia Leitch, do you mean the Jinny series? I haven't read those although I've enjoyed Highland Pony Trek and a couple of others.

[hartleyhare]

Yes, the Jinny books - they're interesting because Jinny as a character is drawn very powerfully and isn't at all like the usual pony-book heroines (she's sulky and introverted, and doesn't have the wholesomeness of, say, the Pullein-Thompson heroines). Patricia Leitch's more recent work seems to be aimed at much younger readers, but the books she wrote in the late 70s/early 80s (such as Dream of Fair Horses) tackle issues that are much more complex than most pony stories.

[callmemadam]

Thank you. I'm sorry now I've sold so many without reading them!

[minniemoll]

I'm pretty sure that there's a copy of this on my shelves somewhere, but I haven't read it, although I'm sure I looked up the references to EBD/EJO etc when I bought it. If I did. I must have a look for it, although I'm not sure I need more recommendations of books to buy just at the moment....

I had no idea Ronald Welch was collectable, I must look out for him.

[callmemadam]

It's the Carey books people like.