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

Product Information

Missing four lines from first paragraph describing the frilled chintz dressing table and how her case sent by carrier was there. Jill's Gymkhana, A Stable for Jill, Jill has two ponies (later republished as Jill and the Runaway), Jill enjoys her Ponies, Jill's Riding Club, Rosettes for Jill, Jill and the Perfect Pony, Pony Jobs for Jill (later republished as Challenges for Jill) and Jill's Pony Trek. Hardly needs introduction - the classic adventures of Jill begin when she finds herself the owner of a pony and has to learn all about caring for and riding him. Out of print for years, this is a reprint of the 1949 original using the original first edition text.

I did like that Jill really struggles to get her own pony and everything that's needed to keep him happy. In the section below, the first page number given is from the first edition and the second number corresponds to the paperback. The people and the ponies are skillfully drawn, and various riding (and other) adventures keep the pace bowling along. Jill and I’ and ‘said Jill’ have been corrected to ‘Ann and I’ and ‘said Ann’ in the fourth paragraph.

Soon she is soaring, literally, and gets to take part in her first gymkhana, with the chance to win a coveted rosette. And they keep it in their back garden which it later turns out includes not only an orchard, but a hay field (! There is a sort of training montage about Jill learning to ride her pony, and at the end there is a weird timeskip which seems to point to the book being partially based on life experience, as all sorts of previously unmentioned characters show up in the final gymkhana where Jill wins a bunch of ribbons (but not, we note, in her first gymkhana, which would be the obvious if implausible narrative solution). It even sells itself by talking about how Jill is a total beginner who makes loads of mistakes with her pony, so I should be able to pick it all up as I go, right? Memmary and her Jill books, a series of Pullein-Thompsonesque pony books for children and young adults.

Pages clean and bright with light staining on pages 84-85, spotting on closed edges, boards and binding firm, chipping and tape repairs to dust jacket. Between 1949 and 1962 she gained great popularity with the "Jill" books for her step-grandchildren, Libs, Sallie, and Pip. I bought these books because of their titles; Jill’s Gymkhana, A Stable for Jill, Jill’s Riding Club and Jill enjoys her ponies.Jill might not have ever actually handled a pony before, but of course she knows absolutely everything about them, and assumes that the reader must be the same, and is totally familiar with all sorts of titles like 'M. 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.