A Horse Called Bonnie

This is actually the second of a series of "Bonnie" books which were published from 1971 to 1975. The Prologue begins with a letter to the Jockey Club explaining the circumstances of a request for re-registration of equine protagonist Bonnie. The real-life reason for the "letter", of course, is to provide a summary of the authors' initial offering, "The Sweet Running Filly", and set the stage for Bonnie's further adventures. That it fulfills this purpose admirably, if somewhat transparently, is the reason "A Horse Called Bonnie" stands well on its own. The heroine, Julie Jefferson, is endearing; the bad guys, nasty if somewhat bumbling; and the events will be believable to anyone who is not involved with the real world of horse racing. Despite a somewhat predictable ending, the plot is fast moving and contains enough twists, equine action and suspense to hold the reader's interest throughout. If the dialogue turns campy at times, and the drama occasionally slips into melodrama, the overall experience is satisfying enough that the young adult audience for which this book was written may never even notice, and the rest of us can easily forgive. Readers who enjoy either or both of the first two "Bonnie" books will despair that their sequels ("The Betrayal of Bonnie", "Bonnie and the Haunted Farm", and "Sunbonnet: Filly of the Year", all written by Van Tuyl sans Johnson) are difficult to find, apparently out of print. As a longtime fan of Bonnie and her human cohorts, I hope someone will re-discover and reprint the entire series. In the meantime, any or all these books are well worth seeking.

Horse Called Bonnie is an excellent book for all those who wish to find a diamond in the rough of a horse. Bonnie, a Bold Ruler filly, has been stolen previously from the man who bought her, winds up in the hands of Julie Jefferson, a recent high school graduate of 17. Unknowing of the horses previous history and bloodlines, Julie finds out that Bonnie can run, and set out to find her true owner. In this book, Julie's father is hurt, and Bonnie must race and win to pay for the surgery. When Bonnie is entered into a claiming race, with Julie hoping no one would claim her, a rapscallion claims the horse, only in the end to have his scandal unearthed and his trainers license suspended. For the rest of the story, please read it! Scour your libraries for paper copies of it!