Stephen W. Meader (1892-1977)

Stephen Warren Meader was a popular American author of children's (mainly boy's) adventure stories. He was born in 1892 in Providence, Rhode Island. As a child he was fascinated both by animals and books (a favourite book being Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book) and so it is hardly surprising that animals, including horses and ponies, feature in a number of his novels.

Stephen worked as a social worker for a number of years, but when his career was going through a bad patch he decided to try his hand at writing a book. He eventually completed The Black Buccaneers four years later and it was published in 1920. He was to write many more successful and popular novels over the years, but kept working as an editor, and later in advertising, throughout his writing career.

Cedar Series:
Short series set in the world of trotting/harness racing.

1) RED HORSE HILL
(HARCOURT, BRACE & CO [USA] 1930)
ILLUSTRATED BY LEE TOWNSEND
Reprinted in hardback
SUMMARY: Orphan Bud Martin works in the trucking stables where his father had been a driver. There he looks after the lightning fast roan colt, Cedar, and hopes for victory in the championship cutter races of New Hampshire

2) CEDAR'S BOY
(HARCOURT, BRACE & CO [USA] 1949)
ILLUSTRATED BY LEE TOWNSEND
Reprinted in hardback
SUMMARY: Sequel continuing Bud and Cedar's story.

Collector's Info:
Although many of the author's books are hard to find, these horse stories are, luckily for us pony book enthusiasts, not amongst his rarest titles. Both of these are fairly easy to find in the USA, although Cedar's Boy may be expensive with its jacket. They are harder to track down in the UK and may be more expensive.

Other Horse & Pony Books:

WHO RIDES IN THE DARK?
(HARCOURT, BRACE & CO [USA] 1937)
ILLUSTRATED BY JAMES MACDONALD
Reprinted in hardback
SUMMARY: Historical tale of highwaymen. Not sure how much actual horse content is in the book however. If anyone has read it please let me know!

WILD PONY ISLAND
(HARCOURT, BRACE & CO [USA] 1959)
ILLUSTRATED BY CHARLES BECK
SUMMARY: When Rick and his family move from the big city tenement district to a remote island off of the North Carolina coast, Rick finds himself in a strange new world. At first he hates it, but eventually grows to love it as he becomes interested in studying the wild ponies that roam the island and then breaking in and riding the palomino Dandelion.

Collector's Info:
Although both of these books are reasonably easy to track down in the USA, Wild Pony Island may be quite expensive, especially with jacket. This title is also very hard to find outside America.