Hetty Burlingame Beatty

Hetty Burlinghame Beatty (1907-1971) was initially a sculptor, who also wrote and illustrated children’s books.  Her sculptures were exhibited nationally, and she won second prize at the International Exhibition of Horses in Sculpture in New York.   She wrote several books for children, and eventually spent most of her time writing and illustrating rather than sculpting.  Beatty wrote books aimed at varying age groups, and also became interested in writing non-fiction.  She said:

"I have lived for two years in Italy, 1929-1931, and have since traveled a good deal in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, as well as in the United States. I speak French and Italian, after a fashion. Horses, gardening, and square dancing are among my special interests, and I love to plan and build houses. I designed our house in Bermuda, where my husband and I spend the winters.

"I am primarily interested in writing for children, but have become increasingly interested in adult non-fiction. While I am busily writing, my husband is equally busy in his work of handwrought sculpture in lead and other things in pewter, copper, brass, and silver. He founded The Pewter Shop in Rockport, Massachusetts, thirty years ago and was long associated with it."

Finding the books:  Blitz is very common:  the other titles are a bit less so, but still readily available.  I believe Trumper is back in print. None of the bookswere published in the UK.

Sources and links:

Hetty Burlingame Beatty papers

Contemporary Authors. 28 October 2003. 30 June 2005.

Many thanks to Lisa Catz for the photographs.

Bibliography - horse books only

Bronto

Doubleday, New York, 1952

Bill makes friends with the little no-good brown horse Bronto at the ranch, and together they learn how to work
cattle and they show everyone how smart they are together.

Blitz

Houghton Mifflin, New Yorok, 1961, illus Joshua Tolford, 118 pp.

Scholastic, pb, 1966

“Blitz was trained to be a firehorse for the Drumlin Voluteer Fire Department, but after a
terrible accident, Blitz could no longer do heavy work and was sold.”

Trumper

Houghton Mifflin, New  York, 1963

General books, 2009

“Mark tries desperately to train their new dapple gray horse Trumper to accept the farm work of haying and hauling
the milk wagon so that he can enter the horse in the 4-H competition for all-round light-weight farm horse.”

A review of Trumper on the Pony Book Chronicles

Rebel the Reluctant Racehorse

Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, 1968, illus the author, 30 pp.

“Rebel ran fast enough and jumped well enough to become a famous racehorse, but too many things distracted him
from racing.”

Bucking Horse

Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, 1957, illus the author, 37 pp.

“Danny tames the Wild One, but when he lets the other cowboys try to break the horse to saddle, the Wild One
bucks them all off.”

Little Wild Horse

Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, 1949, illus the author

“Peter wants a horse of his own so that he can help his fathear.  He watches a herd of wild horses and picks out a
little grey one that he wants to tame for his own.”

Moorland Pony

Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, illus the author, 1961, 40 pp.

Judd and his family make friends with Teaser, an English moorland pony who teases for tidbits, and they decide
to take the pony back to America with them when they return home.!

Droopy

Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston, 1954, illus the author, 26 pp.

Judd and his family make friends with Teaser, an English moorland pony who teases for tidbits, and they decide
to take the pony back to America with them when they return home.!