Jean Slaughter Doty

Very well-loved American pony author. US pony mad kids were brought up on her the way we British readers were on Jill and Jackie and the P-Ts! She was born in March 19th 1929, and 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 quite original plots, others being more traditional pony stories. Also wrote some pony non-fiction and a dog story called 'Gabriel'.

In the UK she is known mainly for her fantasy pony story Can I Get There By Candlelight, although with the recent reprintings of Summer and Winter Pony, she is becoming more familiar to British readers.

Mokey series:

1) SUMMER PONY
(MACMILLAN 1973)
ILLUSTRATED BY SAM SAVITT
There were a number of hardback reprints by Macmillan.Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic.
Most recently reprinted by Random House in paperback in 2008 and is still in print.
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 Jinny decides to look after the pony and eventually falls in love with her.
PONYMAD RATING: 3 HORSESHOES

2) WINTER PONY
(MACMILLAN 1974?)
ILLUSTRATED BY TED LEWIN
Reprinted in hardback by Macmillan.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic.
Most recently reprinted by Random House in paperback in 2008 and is still in print.
SUMMARY: Sequel to Summer Pony. Mokey is expecting a foal.

Other Pony Books:

THE CRUMB
(GREENWILLOW 1976)
Reprinted in hardback by Weekly Reader Childrens Bookclub.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
SUMMARY: A girl and Crumb, her pony, become involved in the world of show-jumping.

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

CAN I GET THERE BY CANDLELIGHT
(MACMILLAN 1980)
Reprinted in hardback by Macmillan.
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic.
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: 4 HORSESHOES
Read review

VALLEY OF THE PONIES
(MACMILLAN 1982)
ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY HASKELL CHHUY
Possibly reprinted in hardback?
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic
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
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)
Not sure if there was a paperback reprint of this title.
SUMMARY: Sisters Stephany and Camilla struggle to run their Thoroughbred breeding farm after their father's death.

YESTERDAY'S HORSES
(MACMILLAN 1985)
There was a Book Club edition.
Not sure if there was a paperback reprint, however.
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:
These books are almost all fairly hard to very hard to find in the UK. Can I Get There By Candlelight is the only one regularly seen. May have to buy the rarer ones from the USA. In America the books are all fairly easy to find, with one or two titles more common than others.