The American Girl Book of Horse Stories

by American Girl

Horses, horses, horses! There is something about a horse that just naturally finds its way into a girls heart, whatever the time or place. Wild horses, show horses, old reliable family friends - they are all here in these stories of today and long ago, of places near and far. Selected by the editors of The American Girl Magazine, they make exciting reading for anyone who loves horses. Stories Danger Rides the River Road - Margaret Leighton Beautiful and Free - Carolyn St. Clair King Fiesta Parade - Eleanor Hoffmann A Touch of Arab - Vivian Breck Sundance - June Hall Mills Palomino Cupid - Frances Priddy Two for the Show - Ellsworth Newcomb A Horse in Her Future - Margaret Burrage Ana Paula and the Golden Horse - Marian Garthwaite Tall as the Stars - Janet Lambert

Genres: Horses, Animals, Short Stories

183 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used to have a copy of this in the 1990s, and either sold or gave this away. I have no plans to replace it, since it is utterly unremarkable as a horse story collection. Many of the stories can be found in other anthologies. At least, these are complete stories and not excerpts from novels.

Sam Savitt did the cover of the first edition, and the interior illustrations, one for each story, but he did not do all of the stories.

Stories:

* "Danger Rides the River Road" by Margaret Leighton. About 1776, the British Army wants to take an American family's best horse.
* "Beautiful and Free" by Carolyn St. Clair King. Unusual story in that a boy is the protagonist, and not a girl. He goes on a wild horse hunt.
* "Fiesta Parade" by Eleanor Hoffman. Julie the tomboy looks forward to riding her Palomino colt in the year's big parade, but then her crippled cousin shows up. Very 50s whitebread story.
* "A Touch of Arab" by Vivian Breck. This shows up in a lot of anthologies. A girl and her horse is having a crap summer until they meet an ignorant, but cute, photographer.
* "Sundance" by June Hall Mills. A 15 year old girl's beloved horse is sold at the local auction. Predictable stuff.
* "Palomino Cupid" by Frances Priddy. Another palomino story, named Golden Boy, no less. Another predictable fluff piece about white kids in 1950s America.
* "Two for the Show" by Ellsworth Newcomb. Girl rides her old Army horse in the local show, and everyone laughs at her. Well, almost everyone.
* "A Horse in Her Future" by Margaret Burrage. Girl wants horse so bad she's working at a local stable for free. But now she needs a job that actually pays. In some ways, this is a really disturbing story.
* "Ana Paula and the Golden Horse" by Marian Garthwaite. Our third story featuring a palomino. This is also the only story where a non-white girl is the star.
* "Tall as the Stars" by Janet Lambert. This tale of sibling rivalry at a horse show also pops up in many anthologies.

[Qt · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Nice collection of horse stories. This was a re-read for me.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend found this book on the giveaway shelf at the school library. Way back when, Girl Scouts USA published the magazine "The American Girl" (not to be confused with another short-lived magazine of the same name that came out after the Girl Scout publication ceased). Along with the magazine, some books were also published and this is one of them.

The short stories run the gamut of history, from the first one set during the Revolutionary war up through the "present"--in this case, the late 1940s. All but one feature a heroine and spotlight her courage, fast thinking, kindness, and honor. There are some hints of romance in a few of the stories, but not even a kiss occurs. The horses do have starring roles and I wouldn't mind riding any of them. Fifth graders on up would enjoy this book.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you just want a quick shot of pure vintage horse-book wholesomeness, and this is the ticket. The stories are quite short, yet still sufficiently developed, and I enjoyed the variety, including a couple of pre-20th-century settings, and one that features a Mexican family in early California. There's not a significant standout, but neither are there any to dislike.

Side note: the copyright dates for the stories are generally from the 40s and 50s, so I'm surprised that I actually hadn't read or heard of any of the authors before save 2 (Janet Lambert and Vivian Breck). Oh wait -- I just checked, I SHOULD know Margaret Leighton as I loved Comanche of the Seventh.

[J.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book of fun, action-packed stories about strong young women who love horses and demonstrate character growth and maturity. Every single story was fun to read and had something positive to say--sometimes offering a hint of rom. I would enjoy reading more stories and books by any of these authors.

[Sumiko · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a brief period as a child I was in a book club for horse stories and this was one of the books I received. I loved it. A collection of excellent horsy adventures.

[Catwall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Children's literature, chapter book - ©1963 Teen girl stories, mid 20th century - published by Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., "American Girl" publications. This book includes 10 stories, each by a different author, and accompanied by an illustration of each girl.
I love these "old fashioned" teen girl stories, mid 20th century culture.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was in a box of books given to me by some friends who were cleaning out their library. I couldn't resist a peek inside of the short story anthologies and the writing and timeframe reminded me of some of my own childhood favorites, enough that I had to read it. It was a quick read but delightful. It's actually a Girl Scout book published by Random House and very much fits the Random House genre of youth books beginning in the late 1940s through the 1970s.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of short stories was published LONG before American Girl magazine... unless there was a predecessor to the magazine published today. The stories are good old-fashioned horse stories, set in the 1950s (The Black Stallion's heyday). Probably more old-fashioned than most kids today would be interested in reading.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An innocuous, dated little book with ten horse stories. Only one featured a male protagonist and I found that a little odd. It's clearly a book for girls so I'm not sure why there was the one "boy story" in there, or why there wasn't more than one. There seemed to be several very similar stories, like they were written from an outline, but overall an easy, relatively enjoyable read.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was in my grade school library, and I am happy I now own a copy (although just went to look for it, and it is not on the shelf next to the Janet Lamberts which has me concerned).

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Childhood favorite!