Snow Ride

Saddle Club #20

by Bonnie Bryant

When Stevie is invited to Vermont to visit her friend Dinah for the annual sugaring-off event, she's not sure that she wants to leave the rest of The Saddle Club behind. But then she finds out that Dinah's riding class is having a contest to see which team can gather the most sap, and Stevie can't resist the challenge. She's also thrilled to learn that Dinah has arranged for the two of them to ride the Rocky Road trail, a difficult but beautiful trail that's off-limits to certain riders. Dinah isn't exactly experienced enough for the trail, but she convinces Stevie to help her, and they both promise not to tell a soul. When an accident happens on the Rocky Road trail, Stevie knows that they have made a mistake. But what should she do: keep the secret or tell the truth?

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Animals, Young Adult, Middle Grade, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

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

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The One with the Maple Sugar

This one's all about Stevie, and just like the other books focused on Stevie, it's full of schemes, fun and adventure. When Stevie is invited by her friend Dinah (is there anyone in the world who's really named Dinah?) to participate in a "sugaring off" in Vermont, she leaps at the chance to learn a new skill on horseback. Of course trouble ensues, with some stunt rescue moves on an illicit trail ride (natch, Bryant uses this plotline quite a bit). This one is a fun change of scenery.

[Kerri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a very food oriented person, but some books describe certain foods in such a perfect way that I can't help but crave it - even if sometimes that food doesn't actually exist. The description of certain sweets at the beginning of The Magician's Nephew always made me certain they were the best thing I'd never get to try. Certain food descriptions in the Harry Potter books can be almost torturous (especially sugar quills and butterbeer, though at least one of those is available, and a possibility, albeit a remote one for someone writing this from New Zealand). Snow Ride, the 20th Saddle Club book, is another book that makes me crave a food I've never had -Maple Sugar.
Stevie is invited to stay with her friend Dinah, in Vermont, during the annual sugaring-off. Basically, they go around collecting maple sap, it gets boiled up into syrup, some of the syrup get boiled for even longer, then is thrown onto fresh, clean snow and voila, you have springs of piping hot maple sugar. My years of reading this book over and over and over and over have me convinced that this is probably my favourite food- if only I could try it! As it is, I guess I'll settle for Russian Fudge from my local Fudge Farm store, which is a close second!
Other than the mouthwatering descriptions of all maple-based foods, Stevie and Dinah learn some valuable lessons, and Lisa and Carole get up to some enjoyable activities, sadly missing out on the indescribably perfect maple sugar has filled my imagination for over ten years.
Needless to say, this a firm favourite for me! 💖🐴

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure Bonnie Bryant wrote this book, since it has continuity errors, a slightly different narrative tone, and Bryant gives "special thanks" to Lou Willet Stanek on the dedication page. Whenever an author of a kid's book series gives someone "special thanks", that usually means they are thanking the ghostwriter.

This was a pretty poor Saddle Club book, mostly told from Stevie's point of view, which is tiring, since she's such an idiot most of the time. She suddenly has a friend that moved to Vermont that she's never mentioned before. She's invited for a week to tap the sap from sugar maples ... which is just as boring as it sounds. She also skis -- a part so dull, I had to skim.

For a book that supposedly focuses on horses, there are zero descriptions of what two of the key horses in this book look like. C'mon -- just one word to give a color, at least. Only one of the Vermont horses was described, a palomino gelding. Since we'd already been told that his name was Goldie, it wasn't hard to guess his color.

Stevie is a disaster magnet. I'd never, ever want to be within a quarter mile of her in real life. So far, she's ridden into forest fires, burning barns and caused a dog to get a fatal bite from a rattlesnake. Now, we have an avalanche. In freaking Vermont. Stevie saved her friend Dinah, (does anyone name their kids Dinah anymore) but she can't save this book.

There is a mention of the upcoming fox hunt, which the girls have absolutely no ethical problem with.

Continuity errors included Lisa being good at the violin -- when before, it was the piano she played. Another was that Stevie had light brown hair. Since when? She was blonde. This was the first time since the first book that Carole's skin color was mentioned.

[Sarah Tummey · Rating 4 out of 5]

As kids, we used to have these books on order at W H Smith's so we got them when they first came out. That means I probably had this read to me in 1992 when it was first published. All these years I had remembered the book about maple syrup, but hadn't remembered the story. A good children's book about having to keep a secret and the damage it can do.

[Sam Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

As cute as ever. Stevie goes to Vermont, we get lectured about sugaring a bunch, and there’s an avalanche, because our girls lead very extra lives.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one stretches my "suspension of disbelief." It was great fun to split the girls up and see just how wild Stevie can get without the common-sense of Carole or Lisa (me) acting as a voice of reason. BUT she was allowed to ignore so many rules in one fell swoop that I'd think even Stevie should have been suspicious.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focuses mostly on Stevie. She takes a trip to see her friend, Dinah, who sets them up with a fun filled horse riding trip. The problem is, Stevie and Dinah take off trail riding when Dinah was not experienced enough. The lesson here is that kids often think they have more experience or that they have the capacity to handle situations that they do not. I have no issues with this book.

[Sue Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all the books in the series
Love reading about the horses
Very good books to feel close to horses and learn to experience riding horses

[Christine Meunier · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the twentieth book in the Saddle Club series, Snow Ride, Stevie Lake has been invited to head over to Vermont to spend time with a friend, Dinah. It turns out it’s the sugaring-off event at her local riding club. This is where sap is collected from maple trees and turned into syrup and sugar.

Read more at http://equus-blog.com/snow-ride-saddl...

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and a little dark book about a trip up to Vermont. Stevie has a great time driving a sleigh, eating maple sugar candy, and giving her friend a crazy makeover. This was one I didn't read as a kid and it was a good adventure.

[Sammy]

Perfect read for pony-crazy teenagers.

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Jen Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting lesson about how maple syrup is made.