Miska Miles/Patricia Miles Martin

Miska Miles (1899- ) was a pseudonym used by Patricia Miles Martin.  She also wrote under the names Patricia A. Miles, and Jerry Lane.  Patricia Miles Martin was born in Kansas, graduated from the University of Wyoming, and worked as a teacher before taking up writing as a career.  This happened almost by accident when she tried to enrol for an upholstery class, found it was full, and ended up in the creative writing class, which hadn’t filled up.  Her first book, Sylvester and the Voice in the Forest, was written during that class.  She wrote many children’s books, and was particularly inspired by animals.   Annie and the Old One was a Newbery Honor book in 1972.

Finding the books:  all are reasonably easy to find in the USA.  None were published in the UK.

Sources and links:

Terri A. Wear:  Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibilography, Scarecrow Press, 1987

National Library of Congress

Biographical information

Patricia Miles Martin’s papers in the de Grummond collection

Bibliography - horse books only

Kickapoo (as Miska Miles)

Little Brown, Boston, 1961, illus Wesley Dennis, 54 pp.

SRA, pb, 1963

“Howdie thinks that he should have a pony to ride in the local Pony Express race instead of his mule
Kickapoo, but the fast mule refuses to be sold.”

Pony in the Schoolhouse (as Miska Miles)
Little, 1964, illus Erik Blegvad

Amy has plans:  her favourite pony is Mrs Pettiboy’s Old Star, but she can’t have her, so she plots to catch a wild
donkey.  When Mrs Pettiboy offers her Star, she finds the donkey in the field instead of Star.

Horse and the Bad Morning (as Miska Miles with Ted Clymer)
Dutton, New York, 1982, illus Leslie Morrill, 32 pp.

“Horse's announcement that it is a bad morning starts a chain of events that involves Mouse, Squirrel, Pig,
Old Dog, and silly Hen in an attempt to cheer up Horse and move his barn.  Of all the animals in the barnyard,
only Horse can find nothing good about his morning and the view he sees every day. His friend Mouse comes up
with a plan to raise his spirits.”

See a White Horse (as Miska Miles)

Little Brown, Boston, 1963, illus Wesley Dennis, 38 pp.

“See a white horse and make a wish” almost doesn’t work when Henry wishes for the dog that accompanied the
white horse into his farmyard.”

The Bony Pony (as Patricia Miles Martin)

Putnam, New York, 1965, illus Glen Dines, 44 pp.

Smiley is a bony pony rescued from an animal shelter.

The Broomtail Bronc (as Patricia Miles Martin)
Abingdon Press, New York, 1965, illus Margo Locke, 64 pp.

Mr Boosey buys the broomtail bronc, and tries to gentle him.  Andy and Teddy don’t think much of Mr Boosey’s
efforts:  they think he’s a coward, and he’s also likely to be the train robber whose picture is displayed in the
post office.