Ranch Hands

Saddle Club #29

by Bonnie Bryant

School is out for the summer, and The Saddle Club has big plans. Lisa, Carole, and Stevie have been invited to Wyoming to work on a ranch and help run a Western riding camp. The girls are looking forward to a great summer of fun and riding until Lisa's parents break the terrible news: They want Lisa to come to Europe with them for a month. For Lisa, it's bad enough that she'll be missing the chance to work as a ranch hand--how will she survive for four whole weeks without her best friends stevie and Carole, and horses to ride?

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

144 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]

DNF

I am now officially done with the Saddle Club series. These girls are so incredibly rich that I just can't relate to them in any way anymore. Two of the girls get a free working vacation out West, while Lisa is SO UPSET that she's forced by her parents to go on a tour of Europe, instead.

And we are treated to a very long pre-vacation shopping scene, where they buy anything and everything they want. Then go for ice cream.

I remember being at their ages, and I was not allowed to buy anything I wanted with my own money unless the purchases were approved by at least one of my parents.

I know the 1990s had a lot more rich people in America than today, and prices were a lot cheaper. For example, a half-hour private horseback riding lesson averaged $35. Now, you're lucky to find one for under $100. And that lesson doesn't include riding clothes, gas for travel, and all the showering and laundry you need to do after riding. And the painkillers.

You might as well label this series "fantasy" for how much the world has changed.

Bonnie Bryant dedicated this book to "Susan Korman -- if she'll have it."

Don't take it, Susan. Not unless there's a huge, juicy check attached to it.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carole, Lisa, and Stevie are headed out to the ranch for the summer. They are very excited to help out at the ranch, as well as help run a Western riding camp. I normally like the ones at the ranch less, because I suppose I am somewhat of a snob and prefer English riding and shows, since that is how I was trained. I liked reading about their ranch adventures in this book. Poor, whiney Lisa's parents wanted her to go to Europe with them for a month. As much as I loved horses when I was a kid, if my parents wanted to take me to Europe, I would not have whined about it. I really do not care for her, and Stevie and Carole are really the best friends ever to put up with her.

[Touloulou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Petit retour en nostalgieland en relisant mes exemplaires de la série Grand Galop, qui se relisent finalement plutôt bien (même si ça ne vole pas hyper haut, ça reste mignon pour les filles qui aiment les chevaux).

[Berita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the Norwegian edition.

[Jemma:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me want to go to Europe it was super exciting how Carole and Stevie got to go to a ranch

[Priscilla Grébert · Rating 4 out of 5]

C'est marrant de se replonger dans cette série, j'y étais accro quand j'étais petite et je connais les livres quasiment par cœur..

[Hazel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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