Setting the Pace

Pine Hollow #15

by Bonnie Bryant

Carole Hanson never knew that falling in love could be so easy--as easy as falling off a horse! Cam may be setting the pace, but Carole's right in step, and now she wants everyone to share her happiness. Life just couldn't get any better, could it?

But the New Year may bring new challenges for Carole and for her friends Stevie Lake and Lisa Atwood. While Stevie helps a friend confront his past, Lisa looks toward her own future--and nothing will be quite the same.

The close of an old year and the opening of a new bring unexpected endings and beginnings for everyone. It just takes courage to keep up the pace.

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

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 12, 2000

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

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carole and her new boyfriend seem to be doing alright in their new relationship, but he is pressuring her into being more physical with him than she wants to be or is ready for. That is a situation that is, unfortunately, common among teen (and adult) relationships. I thought that this was written in a way that brought awareness to the issue, but still appropriate for the target audience's age. Lisa is considering moving, which didn't hurt my feelings at all. She is my least favorite character. Another issue that I found to be appropriate and well written was that of Callie and dealing with someone who is stalking her. People are stalked a lot, and it can be a scary and overwhelming situation. This was one of the better Pine Hollow books as far as handling relationships go.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

RED FLAG. I'm not red flagging the book. The book is fine. I'm red flagging the behavior of some characters that is CLEARLY suspicious but the girls do not notice. Or worse, fall into the trap of "It must be something that I did wrong."

[Lea V · Rating 2 out of 5]

Went back to this book since I read it as a child, and its not too bad but the book has a few explicit parts that are not the best suited for young children. I would say high school is fine, but not younger.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Popped in quickly to revisit characters I loved as a kid. I covered the first 100+ Saddle Club books when I was around 10, then left for other things around the time the Pine Hollow series began. I think I prefer the characters as younger kids, but this book was okay.