Rosettes

Jane Badger Books

Mallory Stevens: My Favourite Colt (Rosettes 1)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(Possibly published before by HarperCollins, New York, 1992)

13 year old Chrissie can’t wait to take part in her family’s tradition: raising a foal of her own in preparation for
the annual yearling auction. However, she’s not given the colt she expects to raise, but gangly and awkward
Klutz. She can’t wait for the auction so she can sell him, but over the year, her feelings change and then she
is faced with a dilemma when her parents want to sell the colt she has come to love.

Joanna Campbell: Star of Shadowbrook Farm (Rosettes 2)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(First published HarperCollins, New York, 1992)

“Susan's terrible fall destroys her confidence. Now the very thought of riding terrifies her. Then Evening star arrives
at Susan's farm. Star has the potential to be a champion jumper, but he's been mistreated by a previous owner.
Now he can't trust anyone - except Susan. Can Susan find the courage to ride? Can she turn Star into the
champion he could be?”

Karle Dickerson: The Forgotten Filly (Rosettes 3)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(First published HarperCollins, New York, 1993)

“Joelle is thrilled that her favourite horse, Dancer is expecting a foal. But tragedy strikes when Dancer dies giving
birth. Joelle's world falls apart. She blames the little foal for his (? this is what the blurb says and not read it)
mothers death. She's convinced she can never love another horse. Finally her parents decide they had better sell
the foal. Then something happens to change her mind forever...”

Diana Redmond: Cara’s Dream (Rosettes 4)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(First published: USA: The Most Beautiful Horse in the World
HarperCollins Publishers 1993)

Cara can’t afford her own horse, so is delighted when she gets the chance to ride the gorgeous

Lucas. They do very well together, but their success means Lucas is sold and Cara encounters

a whole raft of problems.

Joanna Campbell: Battlecry Forever! (Rosettes 5)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(First published HarperCollins, New York, 1992)

“15 year old Leslie D'Andrea can have any horse she wants; her parents own stables where they train retired
Thoroughbreds to become pleasure rides. But the only horse Leslie wants is Battlecry, a racer everyone has
given up on as wild and untrainable. Leslie knows Battlecry is something more. Beneath his unpredictable
behaviour is a spirited horse who would give his all to win races again - for her.”

Virginia Vail: The Palomino (Rosettes 6)

Hodder (Knight), London, 1994

(First published USA, HarperCollins, 1992)

“Tess is spending all summer at her uncle’s stables with her dream horse, Ariel. Developers are trying to
buy the stables, but she knows her uncle will never give up his horses. Then freak accidents start
happening. Is someone trying to frighten her uncle into selling? And how far are they prepared to go?”

The Rosettes series followed in the footsteps of older collections of pony stories like the Collins Pony Library. All the titles were originally published by the American company HarperCollins, and most are stories by American authors of teenage girls and their horses. The one exception is Cara’s Dream, the first pony title by British author Diane Redmond.

Six titles in all were published in 1994, but the series was never expanded, and as far as I can see, not reprinted in the Rosettes format. I wonder if the books were picked up in an attempt by Hodder to cash in on the success of the American Saddle Club series by Bonnie Bryant, still going strong at this point.

The Rosettes books, however, lack the vital series element (though the Joanna Campbell and Karle Dickerson titles were tangenitally part of the epic Thoroughbreds series: they are supposedly part of Ashleigh’s Thoroughbred Collection - Ashleigh being the heroine of one of the spin off series,) and I presume this is why the series quietly folded.

Finding the books: none of the titles are still in print as Rosettes, but all are easy to find, and generally very cheap.

Title List

The Rosettes Series