Pine Hollow'n tallilla on vilskettä, sillä Max suunnittelee aloittavansa hevosten kasvatuksen. Tallijengiläiset ovat uutisesta innoissaan, sillä kukapa ei haluaisi todistaa suloisten varsojen syntymää.
Iloista odotusta on myös muuten ilmassa, sillä tallijengiläisten suosikkiratsastaja on tulossa kylään tulevan sulhasensa Nigel Hawthornen kanssa. Liekö lähestyvät häät vai mikä, mutta myös Stevie päättää kantaa kortensa kekoon häärintamalla. Pian tallilla järjestetäänkin aprillipäivän kunniaksi hieman toisenlaiset häät, mutta ketkä menevät vihille?
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
Stevie Lake and April Fool's Day is always an action packed combination. Personally I've never felt particularly drawn towards pranks, but the ones Stevie pulls tend to be pretty funny (or at least interesting and elaborate). Carole and Lisa get dragged along with her, trying to balance out her extraordinary enthusiasm, reminding her of things like chores, school, homework, safety! A fun book. I have to say sorting through masses of old fashioned riding clothes and habits sounds quite fun, as chores go! And, as the title suggests, there is at least one wedding. 💐👰
Now, this is more like it. We have pranks, horses, some good behavior, some bad behavior, a description of a Gambler's Choice jumping class, and horses. This was a fun read that didn't totally grate on the nerves due to huge amounts of silliness or melodrama thrown at you.
I think this was the last time Pepper played any significant part in the series before his death in book 30, Autumn Trail. Although original cover artist George Tsui drew good horses, he never bothered to actually read any of the books. The horses on the covers usually wound up looking nothing like they are described in the books.
It's about time Carole and Lisa stood up to Stevie, since she could be such a dick at times. They manage to do it without somehow offending Stevie ... and she has a hair-trigger temper, at times.
You usually need to read several of the previous books in order to get the gist of a Saddle Club book. Although this book referred to events in past books, you really don't need to read them in order to figure out what's going on. This is a decent stand-alone book.
Bryant seems to have actually written this one, since there's no "special thanks" given to anyone on the copyright or dedication pages. She has a very bad habit of mentioning a horse, sometimes the gender -- and giving absolutely no other description. No color, no breed, no markings -- nothing. For someone who reads Saddle Club books for the horses and not the people, this is getting fucking annoying. Max buys a stallion (bound to be a major new horse in the series) and there is no description of him at all.
It was also odd to read about Camilla's Olympic caliber showjumper uncharacteristically misbehaving -- and then acting normally the next day. Horses at that level tend not to do that. One they go off form, they often need a long rest before acting normally again. Yes, with horses, nothing is predictable and there's always a first time, but still ...
This book centers a lot on Stevie, so it was one of my favorites. She is my favorite character. This has all kinds of action in it...including a wedding AND April Fools Day shenanagins.
The girls decide to plan an April fools “wedding” between two horses and then go to a famous horse show, one rider gets hurt, so another rider can’t get married, but then they end up getting married in the planned wedding
Is this the stupidest Saddle Club ever? Unlikely, but Bridle Path certainly makes a bold bid for glory. Well played, Bonnie Bryant. By which I mean played both clumsily and cheesily. Well played.