Adele De Leeuw (1899-1988)

Prolific American author. Born 1899 in Ohio. She began her career as a librarian, but telling stories in children's story hour soon led to an interest in writing stories of her own. She wrote over 75 books in all, some collaborations with her sister, Cateau de Leeuw. As well as novels she also wrote a number of biographies of famous people such as Amelia Earhart and Marie Curie.

I have only found information on one pony novel the author wrote, a historical tale about a girl living at an American cavalry post. I have found reference to another possible pony title: The Smartest Pony, but as I cannot find any details at all for it, I am not sure if this is a book written by her or not. She did however also write a short pony story which is included in a compilation (see below for more info)

Sources: New York Times obituary

Horse & Pony Books:

BLUE RIBBONS FOR MEG
FIRST PRINTED:: LITTLE, BROWN & CO [USA] 1950
ILLUSTRATED BY MAC SCHWEITZER
Reprinted in hardback
Reprinted a number of times in paperback by Scholastic
EDITIONS PICTURED: First edition, Scholastic paperback.
SUMMARY: Historical story. Meg moves from Boston to a US cavalry post. Bookish Meg is not enamoured of her new home, full of activity, horses and even Indians! But then she finds Papoose, a neglected pinto pony and she begins to change her mind about her new way of life.

Collector's Info:
Fairly easy to find in the USA, especially the paperback edition. A lot harder elsewhere.

Short stories in other collections:

IF WISHES WERE HORSES
in EVERYGIRLS HORSE STORIES
aka MORE HORSE STORIES (Paperback edition)
FIRST PRINTED: GROSSET & DUNLAP [USA] 1956
ILLUSTRATED BY RICHARD W. BURHANS
Reprinted in paperback by Pocket Books under new title.
SUMMARY: Book of short pony stories by several other authors as well as Adele De Leeuw, including Marion Holland and Janet Lambert.
More info on this book can be found on the American Short Stories page of the website.

Collector's Info:
Although a little rarer than Blue Ribbons for Meg, American collectors should be able to find this title quite easily. Harder to get hold of outside the USA.