Stable Manners

Saddle Club #28

by Bonnie Bryant

When the members of the Saddle Club participate in a special event at Pine Hollow Stables, Carole uses the opportunity to impress a cuter rider named Cam Nelson

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

133 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

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

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Out of the 28 books so far in the series, this was, far and away, the most boring. Not only that, but there was almost no interactions with the horses. They were just in the background. The pony Nickel, a new stallion, mare and foal aren't even described in any way ... because that would've taken effort, I guess.

Lisa apparently suffers from PMS/PMT in this book, as she's pretty much out of character. She's paired up with younger girl May, who'd go on to star in the Saddle Club spin-off series Pony Tales, in a very unrealistic Big Sister/Little Sister project. In all of the stables I ever rode at, it was every girl for herself. You did not spend time helping anyone else when you had precious little time for your own riding.

Apparently, this book's main message was "cheating is bad", although the Saddle Club really didn't cheat. The oral test they were taking (which was why the book dragged) wasn't in any way important. It was just ridiculous fluff.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of course I re-read the old school paperback and not the e-book! Got to recapture the feeling of being 10 years old again. This was a good installment of the series. It had some hijinks and some good Pine Hollow times without the girls on some strange and totally unlikely adventure in Colorado, New York, or wherever. Lisa is on a very unattractive streak of ridiculously snobby teen behavior, but besides that, it was a lot of fun.

[Sam Wescott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really fun. Books like this one that focus on the social aspect of horseback riding made me really, really jealous as a kid. Getting to ride horses AND spend time with your friends and have a social club where you can compete on horse trivia? I would have killed for that when I was twelve. I also really liked the May and Lisa storyline. The whole thing is just very sweet.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs firmer consequences...I know the girls didn't mean to cheat when they started, but when they finally came clean the fair response should've been for the girls to sit out the know-down (or maybe help max by asking the questions).

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This book reminded me a lot of after school clubs, where you could hang out with your friends while also learning and having fun. Of course, this was still horse related, but in a different way.

[Berita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the Norwegian edition.

[Jemma:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is super exciting I love it so much

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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