Tessa Krailing

British author. She worked as a teacher and for the BBC before becoming a writer. Fairly prolific, with around 40 books published. Her books are mainly aimed at younger children and many feature animals. Her most popular are probably the Petsitters Club series, one of which is a pony story, and one a donkey story. She also wrote another pony book for younger readers, which is one of the few pony stories for younger readers with a boy as the main character, and is a very nice story for young pony lovers.

As well as writing stories for children, she was also greatly interested in the issue of literacy and created the Wellington Square scheme for children who find reading difficult. She also helped many other aspiring children's authors and wrote a book about writing for children.

Sadly, Tessa died in 2003. 

Pony Books in the Petsitters Club Series:
The Petsitters Club is a general animal series about a group of kids  - Sam, Jo, Matthew and Katie - who look after other people's pets. Two of the books have an equine theme and are featured below.

For the full Petsitters Club series click here

DONKEY RESCUE
(SCHOLASTIC PB 1997)
Paperback original.
Published in the USA by Barron's Educational in 1998.
SUMMARY: Number 3 in the series. The Petsitters are looking after Buster, the mad, chew-everything dog. However, Jo's mind is elsewhere. He can't stop thinking about Dillon, the sad, neglected donkey he saw standing alone in a field. When he finds out that Dillon is to be sold at market so it's a race against time to save him.

PONY TROUBLE
(SCHOLASTIC PB 1999)
Paperback original.
Published in the USA by Barron's Educational in 1999.
SUMMARY: Number 9 in the series. The Petsitters have a lively pony called Gazza to look after and exercise. Can they cope?

Collectors info:
All paperback editions. These were published in both the UK and USA and are easy to find and cheap. Harder to find elsewhere.

Other Pony Books:

MY FIRST PONY
(SCHOLASTIC PB 1999)
ILLUSTRATED BY NEIL REED
Paperback original.
Part of the My First series, about children and their first pets - the other 2 books in the series feature kittens and puppies.
SUMMARY: Younger reader's pony story. When his family move to the countryside, Harry is sure he will be bored and lonely with nothing to do and no friends to play with. But then he meets Clare and her two ponies Samson and Misty, whom she has out-grown. He soon falls in love with Misty and Clare teaches him to ride and look after the mare, she even promises he can ride her in his very first gymkhana. But then he hears that Misty is to be sold and he knows his parents can't afford a pony...
PONYMAD VIEW: An excellent pony story for younger readers. I like the fact that it emphasises caring about ponies and the bond between a rider and pony rather than having the modern pre-occupation with winning and looking good. It is thus an old-fashioned type of story. Although simplistic in style, it is well-written and has a sympathetic character in Harry. It's also nice that there is a boy main character which is uncommon in modern pony stories. Would recommend to parents looking for pony stories for younger children, both girls and especially boys.
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES

Collectors info:
Paperback edition only. Easy to find and cheap in both the UK and USA. Harder to find elsewhere.