PBOTD 18th December: Suzanne Reynolds - Snowy the Christmas Foal

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Today's book is one I hadn't heard of until I bought another collection of old PONY Magazines recently. The November 1962 edition reviewed Suzanne Reynolds' Snowy the Christmas Foal, which is a book 10 year old Suzanne wrote and illustrated herself. It's based on Suzanne's own pony, and is the rather sweet story of Snowy, who is born on Christmas Eve night. Snowy is a Christmas present for Mary, who whilst pleased with the kitten and sweets she gets for Christmas, had been hoping for a pony. Snowy and Mary (and a puppy) go on to have lots of adventures before Snowy is old enough to be broken in.

Col C E G Hope, editor of PONY and chief reviewer, wasn't always a fan of works by the junior writer ("I tend," he said, "to view published juvenilia of this kind with suspicion,") but he liked this book, calling it "charming" with "extremely promising illustrations."





The book was published to raise funds for the Institute of Cancer Research, because Suzanne Reynolds died in February 1962, when she was 10. The book was written in the last few months before she died. ICRF printed 5000 copies, and sold out within 12 hours.




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Cancer Research (formerly the Institute of Cancer Research)
Eugene Register-Guard, September 30, 1962, retrieved 24.11.2014

Comments

Jackie Tancred said…
I loved this book as a child. I wish I could get a copy as lost.
24 May 2021 at 09:34
Unknown said…
I had this book bought for me when I was a little boy. I remember crying about the fact the author died so young
I W outdoor like to get another copy. But I’ve tried still no luck.
21 August 2021 at 06:42
Jacqui said…
My Nan bought me this. In 1962 and I still have it.
31 July 2022 at 13:20
Unknown said…
The cover illustration and picture of Suzanne took me back to when my mother gave me this book as a child. I enjoyed it but couldn't believe that the young and smiling author had died.
11 January 2023 at 21:14
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