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The members of the Saddle Club spend their winter break at the Bar None Ranch, where each member of the club has an experience that teaches her an unforgettable lesson about the true meaning of the holiday season

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

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About the author

Bonnie Bryant

408 books209 followers
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

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5 stars
79 (36%)
4 stars
64 (29%)
3 stars
63 (28%)
2 stars
10 (4%)
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3 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Kerri.
1,110 reviews456 followers
February 21, 2019
Christmas at the Bar None, a snow storm and some horse rustling- a classic Saddle Club Christmas! 🎄🎁❄⛄🐎
In regards to the book, I'll just say, if you like the Saddle Club (or similar horse books) you'll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, it's not going to be the best fit for you! What I do want to mention a bit more specifically in this review is the cover art.

It's always been one of my favourite covers, and what you can't tell from the Goodreads image is that it's kind of two covers- you lift the picture of the mare and her foals to reveal the Saddle Club trio riding across the same scenery, recreating the Starlight Ride. It's truly beautiful and I have always loved it, every single time I've read this book. Yesterday was the first time it ever occurred to me to see who painted it- Paul Casale, it turns out. He did many of my favourite Saddle Club covers (there were quite a few different artists over the years, all good) and also covers I loved for the Thoroughbred books, created by Joanna Campbell. There's something quite magical to his work.
I Googled him last night and was sad to see he died a few years ago, at the fairly young age of 51. I just wanted to take a moment to express thanks to someone who I obviously never met, but who contributed a great deal of joy of to my childhood, his covers often fuelling my own imagined versions of adventures for the Saddle Club.
I realise his career spanned far beyond the horsey books I devoured as a kid, but I think for me, the covers he did were the first time I remember being stopped in my tracks by an image. He really added something special to the books and my life.
Profile Image for Jamie.
299 reviews
March 29, 2024
10 year old me would have given this five stars. I remember telling my best friend it was one of the best books I’d ever read. 40 year old me gives it three stars. I read this for nostalgia’s sake and it was fun and all but the story was pretty convoluted and not very well written. I feel like those aren’t factors you care about as a horse-crazy, adventure-loving pre-teen. I was just happy to read a book about a bunch of thirteen year old girls saving a herd of horses during a snow storm with a couple of twin foals thrown in for good measure. I definitely think kids would still love this series today. It’s pretty solid.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews