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Thoroughbred #13
Cindy's Runaway Colt
Cindy's leaving the only home she's ever loved . . .
Cindy Blake wants to stay at Whitebrook Farm forever. After being shuffled from foster home to foster home, she's finally found a place where people love her and, best of all, where she's surrounded by horses. Then Lavinia Townsend accuses Cindy of stealing.
The authorities want to send her to another home. Even her new foster parents seem to doubt her. Cindy's troubles multiply when she discovers a mistreated horse on a neighboring farm and takes him into hiding. If anyone finds out she's stolen a horse, she'll have to leave Whitebrook Farm for sure!
Cindy Blake wants to stay at Whitebrook Farm forever. After being shuffled from foster home to foster home, she's finally found a place where people love her and, best of all, where she's surrounded by horses. Then Lavinia Townsend accuses Cindy of stealing.
The authorities want to send her to another home. Even her new foster parents seem to doubt her. Cindy's troubles multiply when she discovers a mistreated horse on a neighboring farm and takes him into hiding. If anyone finds out she's stolen a horse, she'll have to leave Whitebrook Farm for sure!
192 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
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318 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 26, 2024
One of my favorites, we follow a new protagonist, Cindy, and her bond with Glory while she also struggles with being a foster kid on shaky ground.
While I know not all foster families and social workers are as awful as they are depicted here I also suspect there are a fair amount of people who ARE this awful, and it truly makes my heart go out to these kids. It’s not easy for them even if they do have loving families and I liked the honesty behind Cindy’s story and struggles. Glory being an abused horse who bonded with Cindy I think just added an extra layer of relatability as well.
The only thing that bugged me about this book is that there were CONSTANT reminders that Ian was “Ian McLean” like, yeah, I know his full name by now WHY DO YOU KEEP REMINDING ME?!?! Stick with either “Ian” or “Mr. McLean” would you?!? Gah, that drove me batty!!!!
‼️Content‼️
Language: gosh; my God (1)
Violence: a horse is abused and hit with a whip more than once; a horse flips and crashes nearly on top of its rider; a whip welt on a horse’s flank
Other: in the past a character shoplifted; a character is accused of theft
While I know not all foster families and social workers are as awful as they are depicted here I also suspect there are a fair amount of people who ARE this awful, and it truly makes my heart go out to these kids. It’s not easy for them even if they do have loving families and I liked the honesty behind Cindy’s story and struggles. Glory being an abused horse who bonded with Cindy I think just added an extra layer of relatability as well.
The only thing that bugged me about this book is that there were CONSTANT reminders that Ian was “Ian McLean” like, yeah, I know his full name by now WHY DO YOU KEEP REMINDING ME?!?! Stick with either “Ian” or “Mr. McLean” would you?!? Gah, that drove me batty!!!!
‼️Content‼️
Language: gosh; my God (1)
Violence: a horse is abused and hit with a whip more than once; a horse flips and crashes nearly on top of its rider; a whip welt on a horse’s flank
Other: in the past a character shoplifted; a character is accused of theft
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February 6, 2009JAR5-Cam
April 30, 2015
A great series for tweens that love horses and/or are interested in horseback riding or racing. Teaches about the struggles of working with animals and the benefits.
October 6, 2025
Childhood favourite series (haven't read in a long time) giving all four stars unless it was a favourite as a child.
September 7, 2024
This was one of the last books written by Joanna Campbell (real name Jo Ann Simon.) In an online interview, she said she was burned out by HarperCollins' demanding four book a year schedule. She was offered half the copyright to the book series and made a lot of money off of it. She said she had no idea why HarperCollins suddenly decided to end the series in 2005.
She also said that Cindy was her least favorite character, and that she hated what the ghostwriters did to her later on in the series. You can really tell Campbell/Simon just didn't give a shit anymore, as writes a huge mess of a book and leaves the floundering series in a lurch it never got out of, despite a few good reads and one writer that was miles better than her, Jennifer Chu.
I have no idea if the cover was done before the final draft of this book was written, because the moment shown never appears in the book, unless you count when Cindy was trying to decide to run away.
The book introduces March to Glory, who is being abused. However, the grown ups in the Thoroughbred series don't believe anyone would abuse a valuable race horse.
Campbell/Simon was being a bit of an asshole here. She knew damn well that racehorses were abused all of the time, but also knew that the industry denied that this was so. She even showed one horse, Shining, being left to starve to death in Wonder's Sister. Wonder herself was treated badly during her training in the second book.
What other horses are in here? We'll there's Townsend Princess, Blues King, Shining, Mr. Wonderful, Bo Jangles, and a Townsend horse named Her Majesty. In this book, Cindy is the only one who recognizes that Shining's color is "unusual". She's a true roan. HELLO!
The B plot is that Child Protective Services threatens to remove Cindy from Whitebrook. Sadly, this turned out to be even more unrealistic than the unrealistic way American racing is portrayed. CPS in real life would not have cared less about Cindy. They have been chronically understaffed since forever, so just taking a report is all they ever do.
You do need to read just about all of the previous books in the series to understand what's going on. Not much of a backstory is given here.
She also said that Cindy was her least favorite character, and that she hated what the ghostwriters did to her later on in the series. You can really tell Campbell/Simon just didn't give a shit anymore, as writes a huge mess of a book and leaves the floundering series in a lurch it never got out of, despite a few good reads and one writer that was miles better than her, Jennifer Chu.
I have no idea if the cover was done before the final draft of this book was written, because the moment shown never appears in the book, unless you count when Cindy was trying to decide to run away.
The book introduces March to Glory, who is being abused. However, the grown ups in the Thoroughbred series don't believe anyone would abuse a valuable race horse.
Campbell/Simon was being a bit of an asshole here. She knew damn well that racehorses were abused all of the time, but also knew that the industry denied that this was so. She even showed one horse, Shining, being left to starve to death in Wonder's Sister. Wonder herself was treated badly during her training in the second book.
What other horses are in here? We'll there's Townsend Princess, Blues King, Shining, Mr. Wonderful, Bo Jangles, and a Townsend horse named Her Majesty. In this book, Cindy is the only one who recognizes that Shining's color is "unusual". She's a true roan. HELLO!
The B plot is that Child Protective Services threatens to remove Cindy from Whitebrook. Sadly, this turned out to be even more unrealistic than the unrealistic way American racing is portrayed. CPS in real life would not have cared less about Cindy. They have been chronically understaffed since forever, so just taking a report is all they ever do.
You do need to read just about all of the previous books in the series to understand what's going on. Not much of a backstory is given here.
December 18, 2015
the new generation of whitebrook farm begins! this book really tugged at your heart strings though. just shows how heartless the CPS people really are.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews