We Started a Riding Club
Blackie, 1954 illus Maurice Tulloch
Reprinted by Blackie in 1966
The Ponies of Cuckoo Mill Farm (CMF)
Blackie, 1958, illus Geoffrey Whittam
Reprinted by Blackie in 1965
Riding for Ransom (CMF)
Blackie, 1960, illus Joan Thompson
Reprinted by Blackie in 1965
If Wishes were Horses
Blackie, 1961, illus Constance Marshall
The Heronsbrook Gymkhana
Blackie, 1964, illus Geraldine Spence
Knight pb, 1978
Non Fiction
Practical Pony Keeping
Blackie, 1962, illus F Gettings, Anne Linton
Catherine Harris (Catherine Anne Harris) was another in the fine tradition of those who started their pony book writing career early: according to the blurb on We Started a Riding Club, her first book, published in 1954, it was written in her teens. She wrote one series: Cuckoo Mill Farm, which featuring a farming family and their collection of animals. She isn’t as sought after as she perhaps she might be: I like her Cuckoo Mill series, which is full of sparky characters and whizzes along at a fine pace. The standalone stories I don’t think work so well, but they are still entertaining reads.
The books are generally easy to find; in their Blackie orange reprint guise at any rate, but if you can find the first editions they have lovely dustjackets. I have a theory that the orange dustjackets put many people off discovering her, but she really is worth persevering with. Many thanks to Hannah for most of the photos in this section.
The Cuckoo Mill Farm Series
They Rescued a Pony, 1956
The Ponies of Cuckoo Mill Farm, 1958
Riding for Ransom, 1960
To Horse and Away, 1962
To Horse and Away
Blackie, 1962, illus Lilian Buchanan
They Rescued a Pony (CMF)
Blackie, 1956, illus Geoffrey Whittam
Reprinted by Blackie
in 1965
