Fallen Star

Thoroughbred #43

by Joanna Campbell (Creator)

Has Star run his last race?

Christina Reese and Wonder's Star are about to race at Belmont, one of the most prestigious tracks in the country. Christina is confident that she and Star are going to blow all the New York horses away. But when the gates fly open at the start of the race, Star feels sluggish--something is wrong!

Christina takes Star home to Whitebrook, hoping that he'll recover in time for their next race. But Star's condition only gets worse. Faced with the possibility that Star may never race again--he may not even live--Christina doesn't find winning so important anymore. Will Christina give up her racing career to save the horse she loves?

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

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

See Jo Ann Simon

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read some of the later books before this one and was looking forward to it since Cindy shows up in it. Unfortunately, she seems vastly out of character for at least half of the book and her “change” seems abrupt. It might’ve worked it if was from her POV, but in every other book about her, she’s always cared about the horses, even if she can be snippy with people, but this one didn’t show that till the end.
As for the plot itself, it is fine, but the ending is…weird. I feel like it needed another chapter to show that Star is actually recovering, not the abrupt ending that we got. More of a 2.5 star in my book as I don’t know if I’ll want to read it again.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last major ghostwriter in the series was Mary Newhall Anderson, who would wind up taking the series from laughably bad to utter train wreck. She had absolutely no knowledge of horse racing, and almost zero creativity. This would be her most creative book in the series, where Star comes down with a mysterious, debilitating virus.

Just whether Mush-for-brains Mary came up with this plot line or publisher HarperCollins did is unknown. In a 2014 online interview, original writer Joanna Campbell (real name Jo Ann Simon) stated that she received outlines written by HarperCollins for the first four books, but declined to say if she received similar instructions later on. She also said that she only liked one ghostwriter after her, her immediate successor, former editor Karen Bently.

Bently wrote about a lethal sickness hitting a Whitebrook horse way back in Cindy's Heartbreak. Mary may have gotten the idea from Bently, from the Thoroughbred fan websites of the time, or even from the life of Seattle Slew. Somehow, I kinda doubt she actually looked at the life of Slew herself, since that would've taken effort.

Mary dedicated this book to the Thoroughbred fans, which suggests that one of the fans told her about getting Star sick, similar to either Slew's life, or perhaps the plot from Walter Farley's The Black Stallion and Satan.

So, it's only creative in a second or third hand way. The only actual creative bit was how she handled the character of Cindy, who has more mood changes than a teenager, or a mare in season. She berates Christina for talking overconfidently to a reporter. This shows you how little Mary knew about racing. Jockeys are SUPPOSED to talk overconfidently to the press. If they don't, they lose their mounts. A jockey who isn't confident doesn't ride his/her best, and owners hate that.

I wonder how the Thoroughbred fans in 2000 felt at having this book dedicated to them. Since most of the sites and fan clubs have vanished, probably they were embarrassed.

Celtic Mist is introduced in this book. Other horses that appear include Rush Street, Gratis, Silver Jane, Pride's Best (this might be the only book this mare and foal combo appears), Pride's Heart, the second Leap of Faith (a major continuity error there), and Fire 'n' Ice.

[Alexandra Starck · Rating 4 out of 5]

why are these all sad??

[Alma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread.