Mystery of The Dancing Skeleton (1962)

This is not a pony book or a horse book, but a children's mystery with a horsey element in that the child sleuths ride ponies to investigate the curious doings in their mountainside home town. Sorry about the image of the cover - in my defense, it was an early attempt to photograph a book (which is surprisingly difficult considering they just sit there) and the copy I was using was not in great shape.

Mystery of The Dancing Skeleton
Christine Noble Govan and Emmy West, il. Joseph Papin
1962, Sterling Publishing

Several years ago when the older children in the families had begun to want bicycles, Dr. Randall, Jimmy's father, and one of his close friends, Mr. Cordell, had agreed that ponies were not only more fun but safer.

Where were these men when I was a child? At any rate, this is the fairly thin link between this conventional mystery story and horse stories. A group of friends on Lookout Mountain agree to help run the pony ride concession at the town's annual Halloween fair. Something seems shifty about one of the men who is in charge of the ponies, and before you can say "Lookout club" there's a mystery afoot.


The fair has two purposes - to raise money for the local schools and to keep the kids out of trouble on Halloween. How very dull. The town's never very clearly drawn - it's obviously up a mountain and a fairly rough sort of place, but then the kid's parents are almost all well-off. There's a big livestock auction/yard right near the business district, which implies the town is tiny. And there is the fat, excitable, lazy and derided fat kid.

The writing is pedestrian and the mystery isn't very involving. Characters are vague, as is the sense of place, despite the unique location. The illustrations are probably the most interesting part of the book, dark, vivid and far too complex to fit this story.


Horses and other animals
Silky - pony
Horatious - old horse
Snowflake's King - white pony
Windsong - black pony
Trouble - Irish Setter
Bunny - Beagle

About the authors
Christine Noble Govan (1898-1985) and Emmy West were a mother-daughter writing team. Govan's husband and children were all writers; daughter Mary Govan Steele wrote under the name Wilson Gage, and her book Journey Outside was a Newberry Honor Book. Govan also wrote mysteries as Mary Allerton and J. N. Darby.

About the illustrator
Joseph Papin also illustrated Dorothy Potter Benedict's Bandoleer and Fabulous.

Other books in the Lookout Club series
Mystery At Shingle Rock
Mystery At The Mountain Face
Mystery At The Shuttered Hotel
Mystery At Moccasin Bend
Mystery At The Indian Hide-Out
Mystery At The Deserted Mill
Mystery Of The Vanishing Stamp
Mystery At The Haunted House
Mystery At Plum Nelly
Mystery At Rock City
Mystery At The Snowed-In Cabin

Other books for teens and children
Those Plummer Children
Five At Ashefield
Judy And Chris
Narcissus An' de Chillun
String And The No-Tail Cat
Sweet 'Possum Valley
Mr. Hermit Miser And The Neighborly Pumpkin
The Pink Maple House
The Surprising Summer
The Super-Duper Car
Tilly's Strange Secret
Rachel Jackson, Tennessee Girl
Willow Landing
The Delectable Mountain
Number 5 Hackberry Street
The Curious Clubhouse
Return To Hackberry Street
Phinney's Fine Summer
Mr. Alexander And The Witch
The Trash Pile Treasure
Danger Downriver

Short Stories
"Miss Winters And The Wind" in anthologies Stories Not For The Nervous and Timeless Stories For Today And Tomorrow.

Links
de Grummond Collection on Govan and West
University of Tennessee - regional author info



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Mule Day!

Yesterday was the final day of the 2009 celebration of Mule Day in Columbia, Tennessee. A deceased horse trainer got his final wish to ride in the parade when his ashes were carried on a mule-drawn wagon. A thunderstorm scattered attendees. A mule spooked into a vendor cart during the parade, causing some scratches to a child riding on his wagon. Logs were hauled in competition. And an old Mule Day veteran, Martha, was missed on the first celebration since her death last year. Mule Day's Queen this year was Rachael Ethridge, a 21-year-old Susan Lucci of the contest who won in this, her final year of eligibility.

News Stories
Man Gets Last Wish to Ride in Mule Day Parade
Mule Spooks
Log-Hauling Competition
Martha Missed
Mule Day Queen

Other Mule News
A retired Tennessee man (of course) is driving his mules, Mack and Jack, out to Phoenix to see his sister. Accompanying them is a Blue Tick Heeler named Britt. They have a website chronicling their adventures.

And here, because I am slightly more prepared with American events than British, is a perfectly on-topic review.



Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley
Marguerite Henry, il. Bonnie Shields
1996, Simon & Schuster

Tennessee girl Molly is devastated when her happy-go-lucky father buys her an old mare at auction instead of one of the shiny foals who would be as impressive as Freddy Westover's Tennessee Walking Horses. She slowly becomes inured to the reality that Pops really bought the horse for himself, and even becomes interested in the slow rehab of Lady Sue. But her enthusiasm only returns when Lady Sue has a surprise for them - she gives birth to a baby mule.

It seems a bit odd that Molly spends the first three chapters in a snit because her dad doesn't buy her a breathing Breyer, but instantly loves the idea of owning a mule. It seems even more odd that she takes almost no role in raising the mule - her dad and Freddy and a neighbor do all the work and Molly seems like an afterthought. But when Brown Sunshine is named the King Mule for Columbia's annual Mule Day parade, Molly reappears as she dresses like a princess to ride on the float with him.

It feels wrong to say anything bad about Henry, who was one of the classic American writers of horse books. But Henry's major flaw even as far back as Misty was her sexism. Beyond an accounting of how many times a boy gets to do something exciting in her books v. the number of times a girl does, there's just a lack of interest that's almost palpable in Henry when it comes to female characters. She tries, but the enthuasiasm just isn't there.

On the positive side, Henry never misses some tricks, and she knows how horse-loving and horseless children feel about their thwarted desires:

I get sick whenever I look at a person riding a horse and acting so smug and happy at being up there. I just want to crawl under a rock and cry.

Although it's easy to miss Wesley Dennis's illustrations, Bonnie Shields does a wonderful job.

Animals
Lady Sue - sorrel mare, possibly Arab/TB cross
Smokestack - Weimaraner dog
Brown Sunshine - mule
Strolling Joe - Tennesee Walking Horse gelding
Royal Gift - Spanish jack sent to George Washington

About the Author
1902-1997
A Wisconsin native most famous for Misty Of Chincoteague, Henry had two Newberry Honor books (Misty and Justin Morgan Had A Horse) and one Newberry Medal book (King Of The Wind). Her collaboration with Wesley Dennis resulted in some of the most beloved children's book of the 20th century.

More books by the Author
Justin Morgan Had A Horse
The Little Fellow
Misty Of Chincoteague
King Of The Wind
Sea Star
Born To Trot
Album Of Horses
Brighty Of The Grand Canyon
Misty, The Wonder Pony
Black Gold
Gaudenzia
All About Horses
Stormy
White Stallions Of Lipizza
Mustang, Wild Spirit Of The West
Dear Readers And Riders
San Domingo, The Medicine Hat Stallion
A Pictorial Life Story Of Misty
One Man's Horse
Our First Pony
Misty's Twilight

Links
Columbia, Tennessee Mule Day
Mule Day

About Mule Day
Begun in 1840 as a meeting for mule breeders, this annual event now lasts several days and is a celebration of Appalachian crafts and food as well. In 2010, the event will be held April 8-11. For old photos of past Mule Days (including a 1949 King Mule named Brown's Sunshine), see Tennessee State Library and Archives.