Ann M. Martin

American author of children's novels. Born in 1955. As a child she loved stories and animals in equal measure. She grew up surrounded by pets and even before she could write dictated stories for her mother to write down.  She  has worked as a teacher and book editor but is now a full time and hugely prolific author, mainly of books aimed at teen and pre-teen girls. Best known for the best-selling Babysitter's Club series, she has also written several spin-off series and other unrelated series, as well as a number of stand-alone books.

Her early love of animals has influenced her writing with many of her books featuring animals. Horses and ponies make an appearance in some, with the character of Karen from the Babysitters Little Sister series seeming the most horsy.

There is a section devoted to the author on the Scholastic Books website.

Pony Books in the Babysitters Club Series:
This extremely long series features the exploits of a group of young teen girls and is mainly concerned with the usual issues close to the heart of girls of that age, such as boys, friendships and problems at school and home. As far as I know only one in the series is horsy. If I find out any more feature horses I will add them.

For the full Babysitters Club series click here

MALLORY'S DREAM HORSE
(SCHOLASTIC PB [USA] 1994)
Reprinted by Scholastic in hardback and paperback.
Also published in the UK by the British division of Scholastic.
SUMMARY: Babysitters Club series number 54.
Mallory loves to daydream about horses and when her parents tell her they have arranged for her to have riding lessons she is so excited she hardly has time for her friends from the Babysitters Club. But when she starts riding she finds that the reality of horses is far different from the daydream!

Collector's Info:
Originally published in paperback, later reprinted in hardback too. It was published by Scholastic UK as well as in America. Very easy to find in the USA and UK and  usually very cheap Can be a bit more elusive elsewhere.

Pony Books in the Babysitters Little Sister Series:
This series was a spin-off from the hugely popular Babysitter's Club series. It featured Karen, the younger sister of one of the original 'babysitters' and her friends, and was aimed at younger readers than the original series. There are 3 horse related titles in the series, and I have listed them in chronological reading order. The actual series numbers of the books are also listed.

For the full Babysitters Little Sister series click here

READING ORDER:

1) KAREN'S PONY
(SCHOLASTIC PB [USA] 1995)
SUMMARY: Babysitters Little Sister series number 60.
Karen spots an old pony at an estate sale and persuades her father to buy him. They install Blueberry at a nearby farm but Karen begins to think he seems lonely. There is also a sub-plot involving a mysterious ring which seems to be cursed.

2) KAREN'S PONY CAMP
(SCHOLASTIC PB [USA] 1997)
SUMMARY: Babysitters Little Sister series number 87.
Karen, pony Blueberry, and friends Hannie and Nancy are all off to Pony Camp.

3) KAREN'S UNICORN
(SCHOLASTIC PB [USA] 1997)
SUMMARY: Babysitters Little Sister series number 89.
Karen is excited when she sees a circus poster advertising a real-life unicorn. But everyone else thinks it will be a fake.

Collector's Info:
Paperback original. Very cheap and easy to find in the USA, however the books were not published in the UK. Karen's Pony is also available from the UK via Amazon UK at the moment, but the other two books are harder to find here.

Other Pony Books:

ME AND KATIE (THE PEST)
(HOLIDAY HOUSE [USA] 1985)
ILLUSTRATED BY BLANCHE SIMS
Reprinted in paperback by Scholastic in 1990.
SUMMARY: Wendy is fed up with her little sister Katie being better at everything than she is. When she takes up riding she hopes that for once she can excel - but then Katie decides she wants riding lessons too….

Collector's Info:
Both hardback and paperback editions. Very easy to find in the USA and usually cheap, quite a bit harder elsewhere.