These books are super cute for young horse lovers. A little emotional. Have to say I got sucked it to the story though.

I’ve decided to review every second book in this series, since my library only offers them as collections of two as opposed to single editions. (This may vary throughout the 101 book series, but that's the general formula I'm going to follow.) I’ve also told myself I’m not allowed to continue with the series until I’m not halfway through three different books, because disregarding all other reading to read The Saddle Club is not a good way to cure a reading slump.

The Saddle Club basically taught me how to write. In my early fiction-writing days as a tween, the first fiction story of which I ever wrote more than ten pages concerned a Saddle-Club style group of friends who rode at a Pine Hollow-style stable, antagonised by a Veronica-style mean girl (and romanced by a handsome, charming blonde of my very own creation). Reading the first two books in the series for the first time in nearly a decade was a strange experience, but a comforting one. It felt nice to revisit something I was so fond of as a child. However, these are definitely children's books. Not in the same way that one might classify Harry Potter or Percy Jackson as children's fiction -- those series' manage to blend demographics not only because of their nostalgia power over readers who grew up with them, but also because their content, themes, and execution transcend traditional categorisation, and their tone matures with each volume, essentially coming of age with the readers who grew up alongside Percy and Harry. (Clearly, it is unwise to get me started on the subjects of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. Staying on topic? I don't know her.) The Saddle Club, on the other hand, is settled very firmly in its genre. It is very basic in every way; the language is simple, the morals are easy to grasp, and unlike more popular children's fiction (I will not talk about Harry Potter again I will not talk about Harry Potter again), the conflicts and trials that the characters experience are shallow at best, and always cleanly resolved by the end of the book. This by no means makes them bad; they're just aimed at kids, and only at kids, and they aren't meant to be critiqued by 20-year-old English majors who've spent the last four years honing their critical reading skills.

It's pretty hard to rate a book that is aimed at a much younger audience, because the things I look for in a story obviously aren't present. I don't really know how to objectively rate kid's books, and I doubt I will until I've read more books in the series and have more to which I can compare each volume. I gave Horse Crazy and Horse Shy three stars each. They're both cute and fun, and although the characters are VERY trope-y, that's the point, and that's what made them so memorable: Carole is the klutz who only has her shit together at the stable, Stevie is the prankster, Lisa is the straight-A student, Veronica is the spoiled mean girl, etc.. Horse Crazy is a sweet introduction to the girls and their world, and I liked how it started off with the three of them not really getting along and ended with them maturely apologising for the pranks they had pulled on each other and becoming inseparable. Tween girls are SO not like that at ALL, but I thought it was nice that they modeled a way for young girls to work out their differences, instead of being catty and bitchy and ferocious the way teenage girl friendships can be. I thought the part in Horse Shy where Stevie and Lisa were coming up with full-on conspiracy theories about the origin of their riding instructor was very 2018 (watch out, Shane Dawson, Stevie and Lisa are coming for your brand). They are a little bit cheesy, though, which was to be expected but is the reason why I only gave them three stars; I remember reading them as a pre-teen, but the humour and the sickly-sweetness of the dialogue are more suited to something like Doc McStuffins or Dora the Explorer.

These are children's books, and I have spent a solid 90 minutes trying to craft a lucid enough review. Can you tell it's assignment season and I'm procrastinating?

Second book in the saddle club series is another average horse tale which has the real focus of being about friendship. It could have actually been the chess club series and had the people learning chess and basically been the same thing, the horses are there as clothes horses for the plot win other words.

It was fine?? If you're a tween who's into horses I could see how you'd be into it...

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-75-saddle-club/

Funnily enough, this was my first ebook. The library didn’t have a print copy for some reason, so I read it on my phone. It’s so short that it wasn’t an annoyance at all and I might return to the format in future!

I’ll say again that I’m surprised by how well these books hold up. There’s a good underlying story here about grief and the fear of getting hurt. It’s simple, but I think it’s effective for its intended age group and I still found it moving as an adult.

'The Saddle Club' takes a surprising twist for its second book in the series - I didn't remember this happening and was duly shocked. I feel loss like this isn't often handled in children's books, although perhaps more so in books about animals. Nevertheless, it surprised me, but positively. The book shows Carole pulling through and becoming stronger from it. An interesting follow-up to a strong beginning.