Eleanor Hoffmann

American author of children's novels. Born in 1895. She worked as a teacher and also travelled a lot in Middle Eastern countries, which appeared in a number of her books. She wrote mainly fiction, but also some non-fiction including a history of Morocco. Many of her stories featured animals and horses, and some, including one of the horse stories, were historical. Many of her books are now either rare or expensive, making her a difficult author to collect.

Unfortunately I have very few pics of the author's books, so if anyone can send me any more I would be really grateful.

Pony Books:

MELIKA AND HER DONKEY
(STOKES [USA] 1937)

SIERRA SALLY
(NELSON & SONS  [USA] 1944)
ILLUSTRATED BY LOUIS LUNDEEN
Reprinted in hardback a few times by original publisher.
SUMMARY: Pony point-of-view story. Sally is a cow pony but she doesn't like cows and wants instead to be an explorer. So she sets out for the mountains in search of adventure.

WHITE MARE OF THE BLACK TENTS
aka SON OF THE BLACK TENTS (UK edition)
(DODD MEAD [USA] 1949)
(1st UK edition HUTCHINSON 1959)
Published in the UK under the title SON OF THE BLACK TENTS.
EDITION PICTURED: UK edition
SUMMARY: Historical pony adventure story set in Arabia. Omar is the son of a Sheik and has an Arab mare called Bayeeda. Then Bayeeda is captured by enemies….

THE TALL STALLION
(DODD, MEAD [USA] 1950)
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL BROWN
SUMMARY: Ranching story. A family's ranch is taken over by horse-breeders.

TROUBLE AT SWEET SPRINGS RANCH
(DODD, MEAD [USA] 1954)
ILLUSTRATED BY ALGOT STENBERY
SUMMARY: Ranching story.

SUMMER AT HORSESHOE RANCH
(STOKES [USA] 1957)
ILLUSTRATED BY GERALD McCANN
SUMMARY: Ranching story. Karen sells her palomino Star Dust, not knowing that the mare's new owner will neglect her.

Collector's Info:
In the USA White Mare of the Black Tents and Melika and her Donkey are the easiest to find. The others are rarer, with Summer at Horseshoe Ranch being perhaps the hardest of all to find. The Tall Stallion, no doubt because of it's Paul Brown illustrations, is usually the most expensive to buy. In the UK, the British edition of White Mare of the Black Tents, under its new title Son of the Black Tents is the only one of these usually seen.

Short Stories in other books & collections:

FIESTA PARADE
in THE AMERICAN GIRL BOOK OF HORSE STORIES
(RANDOM HOUSE [USA] 1946)
ILLUSTRATED BY SAM SAVITT
Reprinted in hardback in 1963.
Reprinted in paperback a  number of times by Scholastic.
SUMMARY OF BOOK: Compilation of horse stories selected by editors of American Girl Magazine. No summary of story itself at present.

Collector's Info:
Easy to find in the USA, both hardback and paperback. A lot harder to find elsewhere.