Jill's Gymkhana (The Jill Books by Ruby Ferguson Book 1)

Product Information

eta with pointless nitpicks about minor details, not about the book itself: my book says first published 1949 so not sure why Goodreads has it as a 1955 first publish date.

Darcy, a local riding instructor, has had to go to London, and Jill along with some of her friends, is looking after the riding school in Mrs. Jill is finishing up a great day at Chatton Show, the equestrian event of the year in her part of the world. I've been a devoted fan of this series for almost 40 years, and though I still have my treasured paperback set, I love the convenience of the ebooks. People often ask me if their Jill book is abridged: unless you have one of the hardbacks then yes, it probably is.

I think she’ll find the language difficult to fathom and the pounds, shillings and pence unimaginable. Many thanks to Hazelhunter on my old forum, who did all the work in this section – a labour of love, indeed! Ferguson's series is (I am told) a solid central example of the genre, so I won't be going far wrong. Jill has nothing to do, as school hasn't started, but there is a pony down the road, and Jill makes friends with him. once lifted me on to my pony himself, and there I sat in my little habit with my long fair curls hanging down to my waist.

It’s a must read for anyone who loves ponies and although some of it is quite dated it still resonates with any child who dreams of owning their own pony. The series takes the protagonist from the age of twelve to fifteen, from a pony novice to a prize-winning rider. Lighting her candle on Christmas morning as they had no electricity upstairs, the peppering of 'wi zard! The Hampton printing has an addition to the original text on page 38 (both versions): to ‘You see, for ages I haven’t been any use at all, since I couldn’t walk, and it was getting me down.She then moved to Manchester and took a job as a secretary, supplementing her income by writing a regular column for the British Weekly. Written in 1949, read by me around 1972 and rediscovered thanks to Lucy Mangan’s wonderful Bookworm.

And they keep it in their back garden which it later turns out includes not only an orchard, but a hay field (! Missing nine paragraphs (41 lines) of Jill describing the essays (about horses at her suggestion) being read out aloud at school and subsequent report. She's got good spirit and it's hard to keep her down for long and she works hard in everything that she does. Här får man veta hur hon fick sin första ponny, Black Boy, och hur hon lär sig rida, för att till sist nå större framgångar . Jill and I’ and ‘said Jill’ have been corrected to ‘Ann and I’ and ‘said Ann’ in the fourth paragraph.citation needed] In contrast, Ferguson's Jill is an active, independent and witty character who defies post-war expectations for English girls by scorning ladylike pursuits, treating boys her own age as equals, and working hard to achieve her goals.