Lois Szymanski

American author. Horse-loving Lois loved the 'Misty' books by Marguerite Henry as a child and it was one of the most moving moments of her life when she visited Chincoteague and stood on Assateague Island where Misty was born. Not surprisingly when she became a writer, ponies were an obvious choice to write about. Some of her stories even have links to Misty of Chincoteague and many are set on the islands. She also has co-written a ghost series with a friend and a number of non-fictional books about the real Chincoteague ponies. She was also one of the ghost-writers for the Joanna Campbell Thoroughbred series.

Lois lives in Maryland with her family and pets and owns a Chincoteague pony called Sea Feathers. As well as writing, she runs writer's workshops and works with aspiring young child writers in the 'global classroom' scheme.

She has her own website where you can find out more about her and read her blog and on-line journal.

(Sources: Lois Szymanksi's website)

Charming Ponies Series:
Not a series as such, as the books are all stand-alone stories with their own characters. More a collection of traditional type pony stories brought together by a marketing strategy. (The books in the 'series' came with free charm necklaces.) There is therefore no particular reading order. These were originally published earlier and reprinted under the Charming Ponies umbrella, and some were re-named to tie in with it better.

EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.

PATCHES
aka A PONY NAMED PATCHES
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1993)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2005 and renamed A PONY NAMED PATCHES
EDITIONS PICTURED: Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: Matt is not happy at being sent to spend the holidays with his Aunt on Chincoteague Island. But once there he becomes involved in a scheme to raise money to rescue a wild pony called Patches.
PONYMAD VIEW: An excellent traditional younger children's pony story, especially for that largely ignored younger male reader slot. It is certainly not a 'girly' story, with the boys poking around in the mud for worms in order to start a business supplying fishermen! However it also emphasises that boys too can form close bonds with ponies without it being 'cissy'. The backdrop of the Chincoteague islands will please lovers of the Misty and Stormy books too.
PONYMAD RATING: 4 HORSESHOES

A NEW KIND OF MAGIC
aka A PONY TO REMEMBER
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1994)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2007 and renamed A PONY TO REMEMBER
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: Jenny is devastated when the family must move from their farm to a city apartment and Jenny has to leave behind her pony Magic and all her other animal friends. How will she cope with her new life?

LITTLE ICICLE
aka A PONY IN NEED
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1995)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2008 and renamed A PONY IN NEED
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: Friends Matt and Holly save the life of a pony they find frozen in the ice.

A PONY PROMISE
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1996)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2005
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: A mare, who is the grand-daughter of Misty of Chincoteague, rejects her new-born foal. Tiffany, who is adopted, feels a bond with the rejected foal and it helps her cope with her own sense of abandonment. Based on a true story.

A PERFECT PONY
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1996)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2005
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: Niki saves an abused and sick pony from slaughter. But in doing so she has to give up buying the pony of her dreams - and he ends up in the hands of an unpleasant boy called Billy who mistreats the pony. Has she done the right thing?

LITTLE BLUE EYES
aka A PONY LEGEND
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1997)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2008 and renamed A PONY LEGEND
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: When Meg's mare Foxy gives birth to a strange blue eyed foal, people begin to wonder if the foal is the cause of magic in the valley. Could the foal be the son of the legendary white stallion who lives in the valley? And is he really magic?

SILVER LINING
aka A PONY TO THE RESCUE
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1997)
Reprinted in paperback by Harper Collins as part of the Charming Ponies series in 2007 and renamed A PONY TO THE RESCUE
EDITIONS PICTURED: Left, Camelot edition;  right, Harper Collins edition.
SUMMARY: Shannon and Amanda ride up to Rattlesnake Hill in search of a lost silver mine. When danger strikes Amanda must conquer her fear to save the day - with the help of Shannon's horse Christa

Collector's Info:
All paperback editions. As far as I know these are all in print and the Charming Ponies Harper Collins editions are easy to find in both the UK and the USA. The books under their original titles are a little harder to find, especially outside of the UK.

Other Pony Books:

SEA FEATHER
(CAMELOT PB [USA] 1999)
SUMMARY: Every year Alison and her family go to Chincoteague to see the pony auctions. This year she and sister Laura have saved over $500 to buy one of the ponies for their own! But they are dismayed to find the ponies are going for a thousand dollars or more! Will they ever get their dream pony?
*This book is based on a true story about Lois's children and a woman who helped them buy a pony. This became something of a tradition and eventually a volunteer organisation called The Feather Fund was set up to help buy Chincoteague ponies for deserving children. The full true story behind the novel has now been written in a non-fictional book by the author (see Non-Fiction section for more details).

ON THE TRACK
(THOROUGHBRED SERIES NO. 34)
(HARPER COLLINS [USA] 1999)
SUMMARY: Part of the Thoroughbred series. See the Joanna Campbell page for more info on this series.
Teen racing story. Melanie's ambitions to be jockey and her closeness with her Aunt who is helping her, cause a rift between her and her cousin Christina.

HUGS AND KISSES
(CAROLL'S COUNTY CHILDREN'S FUND [USA] date unknown)
Rare
SUMMARY: Story written by the author for charity.

WILD COLT
(HARPER COLLINS [USA] 2012)
In print.
SUMMARY: Younger children's picture book. The story of a wild Chincoteague colt told in verse with accompanying full colour illustrations.
Also suitable for educators as it has discussion topics and facts about the wildlife of the area.

Collector's info:
The Thoroughbred series title On the Track is still in print and can be bought from Amazon. Wild Colt is also in print and available in both the USA and UK. The other two books are no longer in print and are harder to find in the UK than the Charming Ponies series, although used copies of Sea Feather can be bought from America via Amazon very cheaply. Hugs and Kisses was written for charity and has not been reprinted since, or is likely to be. It is very hard to find, even in the USA.

Non-fiction:
Although I don't often feature non-fiction I have included these books because they tie in closely with the fictional books written by the author, and also to the Misty/Stormy series by Marguerite Henry.

OUT OF THE SEA: TODAY'S CHINCOTEAGUE PONY
(TIDEWATER [USA] 2007)
ILLUSTRATED BY COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
In print.
SUMMARY:A book about the real life Chincoteague ponies.

THE TRUE STORY OF SEA FEATHER
(SCHIFFER [USA] 2011)
ILLUSTRATED BY COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
In print.
SUMMARY: This is the true story behind the fictionalised account given in the novel Sea Feather (see above).

CHINCOTEAGUE PONIES: UNTOLD TALES
(With Pam Emge)
(SCHIFFER [USA] 2012)
ILLUSTRATED BY LINDA KANTJAS & COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS
In print
SUMMARY: Stories behind some of the Chincoteague ponies and foals which are living
on the Islands.

Collector's info:
All of these are in print and can be bought new from Amazon and other booksellers.