Jean Slaughter Doty

Well-loved American pony author. US pony mad kids of a certain era were brought up on her the way British readers were on Jill, Jackie and the PTs! She was born on March 19th 1929. She loved animals, especially horses, from an early age. As well as an author she was also a writer/producer for children's TV. She wrote some excellent pony books, some of which had very original plots including a rare equine themed time-slip story. A lot of her stories however are quite dark and hard-hitting. Others, such as her Mokey series, are gentler and more traditional. She also wrote some pony non-fiction and a dog story called Gabriel.

In the UK she is known mainly for the fantasy time-slip story Can I Get There By Candlelight, although with the recent reprintings of some of her other titles she is deservedly becoming more familiar to British readers.

Mokey series:

1) SUMMER PONY
(MACMILLAN 1973)
ILLUSTRATED BY SAM SAVITT
Reprinted a number of times by Macmillan.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
Recently reprinted by Random House in paperback.
In print
EDITIONS PICTURED: Scholastic paperback, Random House paperback
SUMMARY: A classic American pony story. Ginny leases a pony called Mokey for the summer but when the pony arrives she is unkempt and half-starved. But despite this Ginny decides to look after the pony and eventually falls in love with her.
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES

2) WINTER PONY
(MACMILLAN 1974?)
ILLUSTRATED BY TED LEWIN
Reprinted in hardback by Macmillan.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic.
Recently reprinted by Random House in paperback.
In print
EDITIONS PICTURED: Scholastic paperback, Random House paperback
SUMMARY: Sequel to Summer Pony in which Ginny and Mokey have fun in the snow. To add to the excitement Mokey is now expecting a foal!
PONYMAD RATING: 3 HORSESHOES

Collectors Info:
Both these were reprinted many times in hard and soft back. They are now in print once again and so can easily be found new in both the UK and the USA. Second-hand copies outside of the USA are rarer however.

Other Horse & Pony Books:

THE CRUMB
(GREENWILLOW 1976)
Reprinted in hardback by Weekly Reader Children's Book Club.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
EDITIONS PICTURED: Book Club edition, paperback edition
SUMMARY: A girl and Crumb, her pony, become involved in the world of show-jumping. But they soon find that underneath the excitement and glamour are much darker and unpleasant truths.
PONYMAD VIEW: Well written but fairly dark story which looks at the shadier side of the horse world. Not a comfort blanket read but nevertheless a good read. Find out more on the link below where you can air your opinion of the book and vote on it.
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES
Read or join in with a discussion of the book on the chat forum reading circle

THE MONDAY HORSES
(GREENWILLOW 1978)
Reprinted in paperback by Pocket Books and Archway.
EDITIONS PICTURED: Paperback edition
SUMMARY: A young show girl finds out there is a dark side to the professional world of horses
Read Review

CAN I GET THERE BY CANDLELIGHT
(MACMILLAN 1980)
Reprinted in hardback by Macmillan.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic.
Reprinted in paperback by Simon & Schuster in 2012
In print
EDITIONS PICTURED: Paperback edition, 2012 paperback
SUMMARY: Pony fantasy story. Gail is lonely, with only her pony Candlelight for company. Then she meets a girl of her own age who also longs for a friend...but all is not as it seems.
PONYMAD RATING: 5 HORSESHOES
Read review

VALLEY OF THE PONIES
(MACMILLAN 1982)
ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY HASKELL CHHUY
Possibly reprinted in hardback?
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
Reprinted in paperback by Simon & Schuster in 2012
In print
EDITIONS PICTURED: Scholastic paperback edition, 2012 paperback
SUMMARY: Jennifer is allowed to take a pony on holiday with her at a friend's vacation house in Connecticut. There she learns about being a pony owner and discovers a secret herd of wild ponies.

DARK HORSE
(WILLIAM MORROW 1983)
ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY HASKELL CHHUY
Reprinted in hardback by Macmillan
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
EDITIONS PICTURED: Scholastic paperback edition, unknown edition
SUMMARY: Life is sweet for Abby, riding the fantastic jumper Sandy in show jumping competitions for his owner. But then Sandy turns violent. Can Abby find a solution or will both horse and rider have to give up show jumping?

IF WISHES WERE HORSES
(MACMILLAN 1984)
Reprinted in paperback by Simon & Schuster
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: Sisters Stephany and Camilla struggle to run their Thoroughbred breeding farm after their father's death.

YESTERDAY'S HORSES
(MACMILLAN 1985)
Also a Book Club edition
Probably no paperback reprint
EDITIONS PICTURED: 1st edition
SUMMARY: Very unusual horse story. While riding in the mountains, Kelly finds an orphaned foal that seems to belong to a breed of wild horses supposedly extinct for thousands of years and which holds the secret to a modern medical mystery.

Collectors Info:
Some of these titles have recently been reprinted and are still in print: these include Summer Pony, Winter Pony, Can I Get There By Candlelight and Valley of the Ponies. They can be found in both the UK and USA. Used copies of Can I Get There By Candlelight are also easy to find in the UK. The other titles are hard to find outside of the USA, but fairly easy to get hold of there.