For the child who loves horses, a good morale and a little bit of fantasy, Tarquin the Wonder Horse will be right up their alley.  This is a short story filled with illustrations for the younger reader.  Tarquin is a special horse.  Having grown tired of travelling, Tarquin decides to return home.  His first task is to seek out a job.

As a horse that is able to talk, he is quick to engage a farmer in a discussion, selling his good qualities as a work horse.  No fool, the farmer recognises the unique horse that has approached him.  He quickly takes him home to work.

Aside from talking, Tarquin has other magical powers.  He finds himself soon explaining this to a barn mouse.  Unfortunately the farmer overhears the conversation.  He soon realises what a gold mine he is sitting on; literally.  When Tarquin discovers that his secret has been found out, he realises it is time to move on.

Tarquin repeats this process more than once.  It seems that his magical powers aren’t wanted for good.  And yet, when he stumbles across two children in danger in the forest, he finds that he may be of use and wanted for a genuine reason.  Tarquin the Wonder Horse is a short but effective tale for young readers.  It encourages imagination in readers and also has the added bonus of featuring a magical horse as the main character.

Author: June Crebbin
Fiction – children
In My Library? It is.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.

I have read and reviewed many of the Saddle Club books on this blog.  And yet, although I have quite a few of the Pine Hollow books by the same author, I hadn’t actually read any until recently!  The Long Ride is the first book in the series and although Stevie, Carole and Lisa are older, it’s still the same Saddle Club members!

At around 16 years of age, the girls still have a passion for horses.  But boyfriends, jobs and drivers licences are in amongst the mix now, too.  Not surprisingly, Carole is working over the school holidays as one of the stable managers at Pine Hollow.  Her days are taken up with caring for the horses, assigning riders particular mounts to ride and orchestrating lessons.  And of course dealing with new clients is in the mix.

Carole is all business when it comes to the horses and she feels relaxed around them.  This can’t be said unfortunately for a new client who is arriving alongside a fractious Arabian gelding.  Carole first meets the owner’s older brother, Scott.  He is amiable and she finds herself concluding that if Callie is anything like her brother, then they’ll get along just fine.

Unfortunately in the rush of the horse Fez’s arrival, Carole finds that she and Callie get off on the wrong foot.  And it only seems to get worse from there.  Stevie has the opportunity to meet Callie through her new job of delivering pizzas.  The two instantly hit it off and she assumes that her friends will get along famously with the newly arrived horse owner.  In time she is amazed to find out how wrong she is.

Lisa finds herself in the middle.  This is as Stevie and Carole struggle to see how the other can view Callie so differently.  Lisa can relate to Stevie liking Callie but feels her friend prematurely anticipated Callie being a part of their group.  This is especially when the three were hoping to have a lovely ride together before Lisa heads away for the summer.

The Long Ride features plenty of horse moments and shows how different personalities can clash.  This is especially so when people are irritated and jump to the wrong conclusions.  The idea of therapeutic riding is introduced nicely into the novel and the book finishes with a great lead into the next in the series.  I have no doubt this series will appeal to teens that enjoyed growing up with the Saddle Club series.

Author: Bonnie Bryant
Fiction – teenagers
In My Library? It is, along with others in the series.
Want it? Get it now on Amazon.