Sono Nis Press - Rebel of Dark Creek

Rebel of Dark Creek (StableMates 1)
Nikki Tate

Jessa is in Grade 6 and eats, sleeps, and dreams horses. But lessons and ponies are expensive, so how will she ever manage to buy or lease a horse of her own? With a combination of work, luck, and good friends she finds a pony named Rebel ... and then the adventures begin! On with the gumboots, up with the pitchfork and Jessa has to learn to work for Rebel's room and board while keeping up in school and coping with some strange behaviour from a few classmates.

Juvenile Fiction 8-12 years, 152 pp, 5x8
ISBN 1-55039-076-7, paper, $6.95

Book Reviews

Attention all horse-loving girls. There's a new series out by a Vancouver Island author Nikki Tate. The first book Rebel of Dark Creek (Sono Nis Press, $6.95) is the story of horse-crazy Jessa who wants more than anything to have her own horse to ride although it is clearly out of the pocketbook range of her single mother. With a little ingenuity, and huge commitment on Jessa's part, an arrangement is found whereby she gets a free lease on a gentle but intelligent pony named Rebel. He doesn't look as flashy as the show horses some of Jessa's rich friends own. But Rebel and Jessa prove that money and top breeding aren't the only things required to be a success. Without giving away the ending, Tate should be commended for keeping the characters and events convincing. Yes, Jessa triumphs, but in a manner that is believable and achievable.

Carolyn Heiman, Life Editor
Victoria Times Colonist

Ever since Cherry Ames, Trixie Belden, and the Bobbsey Twins, young readers have loved series books. Rebel of Dark Creek is the first in a series called Stablemates about a girl named Jessa and her horse. In this book, Jessa, who takes riding lessons, is on a quest for a horse of her own. She knows that her single mom can't afford to buy a horse, let alone pay to have it boarded at a stable. But her mom, who is studying to be an accountant, has a plan; to trade accounting services for a horse. Before long, Jessa has found a pony named Rebel, from Dark Creek Stables, some new friends, and a lot more self-confidence. Despite a few setbacks, including an injury from another horse, Jessa enters a local competition and does herself, her mom, and Rebel proud.

This fast-paced story will be a hit with preteen girls who have horse fever. It's full of details about training, grooming, tack, mucking out stables, and even rider fashions. The plot has plenty of twists and turns, with even a cute boy to keep matters interesting. And the competition at the end is full of tension as Jessa tries to hold her own in the midst of other, more experienced riders. Jessa and her best friend, Cheryl, are well-drawn, likable characters. Some other characters, such as the little rich girl Rachel and the aforementioned cute boy, Jeremy, are more one-dimensional but they are secondary characters, after all.

The enthusiasm of Vancouver Island author Nikki Tate, who has been riding horses since she was very young, is contagious; the reader is quickly caught up in the story. The world of characters she creates in Rebel of Dark Creek is solid; readers will care about what happens to Jessa in future books. The second book in the series, Team Trouble at Dark Creek, advertised at the end of this book, looks to be full of drama and adventure. Readers are also given the web site for the Dark Creek series (http://www.seeknet.com/rebel.stm).

Anne Louise Mahoney, an Ottawa editor
Quill & Quire

This is the best book I've ever read! I could never put it down and every sentence made me more and more interested in the book. It was sooo flowing and easily understood.

Right after I finished it I wanted to read it 5 million times again. It was so realisitc and interesting I could of thought it was a true story.

There were sooo many fun, exciting, or even thrilling adventures that Jessa (one of the main characters) and her friends went through!

In the beggining you learn so well how the characters are like, almost as well as you know yourself.

The main character in this story is Jessa, a horse loving and quite normal girl. But nobody can say that her best friend Cheryl is normal, she always mentions poets, acts out things, and is the most hyper and energetic child you've ever met. If they were live people I'd give almost anything to be there best friend.

I would recomend this phenomanol book to any child in the world 9 and up.

I really look forward to reading the other book as well as the one she's writing now!!

C. M. Desmarais, young reader
Vine and Fig Tree Books

Another children's horse story? Just what the world needs. Just how many permutations of Black Beauty and My Friend Flicka can there be?

Anyone who thinks this, however, is seriously underestimating the passion that young people have for horses. A constantly-growing supply of kids who eat, sleep and dream horses. For these dreamers, stories about horses are a ready source of mind candy. Books about horses are fodder for those dreams.

Rebel of Dark Creek is good fodder. Some aspects of the tale are conventional to the genre: young girl wants horse. Must overcome all obstacles to be with horse of her dreams. Author Nikki Tate's approach, however, lifts the story away from the conventional.

Tate brings an obvious knowledge of horses to a very 90s tale. This equine expertise is one of the things that will make this book a hit with horse-savvy youngsters. Tate knows the difference between a bay and a chestnut and that an even gait has nothing to do with the paddock. Kids who know horses will recognize the accuracy. Those who don't will delight in learning more inside stuff. Despite all of this good background, the story is the star. Which is just the way it should be.

Jessa Richardson is a grade six student who "eats, sleeps and dreams horses." Her room is covered in horsey things, including 16 horse shoes. More, she thinks, than the average horseowner bothers to keep around. She even has lessons once a week at a local stable, but there's just no chance that she'll be able to get a horse of her own.

While there seem to be lots of horse facilities in Jessa's community, Jessa just doesn't have the money to buy and then keep a horse. Her parents are divorced and her mom is studying to be a bookkeeper.

Desperate for a horse, Jessa contemplates writing to her father:

She fished a pen out of her pencil case and began to write a letter.

Dear Dad,

Hi. How are you? I am fine.

Could you please send me enough money for a horse?

Jessa crumpled up the letter and tossed it towards her waste basket. The ball bounced off the rim and rolled under her bed.

She could hardly remember her father. She hadn't seen him since he left when she was two years old. There was no point in asking him for money, she knew that. He was a technician who worked at a radio station in Tokyo.

He had a new wife and a baby and when he occasionally did write, he always said something about how expensive everything was in Japan.

Jessa's relationship with her mother feels strong and warm, but the big strain of living in a single parent family is present here: there isn't a lot of money for extras. Like a horse. Or even a car without rust that doesn't backfire and embarrass its young passenger.

"Jessa, if we can just hang in long enough for me to get my accounting designation we'll be laughing. You can have your horse and I can buy a decent car."

Jessa nodded and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. She wished she could tell her mother it didn't really matter, that a horse was a luxury she could live quite well without. All she could manage was a teary nod. Sure, maybe one day her mother would finish school and get a great job and Jessa could get a horse. Yeah, sure, it could happen — and maybe one day pigs would fly.

Jessa's challenges and problems ring true: these are the kind of things a lot of young people must deal with. Things they can relate to. Perhaps more importantly, Jessa faces her challenges head on. Overcoming her obstacles to make her dreams happen in a way that is neither trite nor saccharine.

Tate's story is told simply, yet with no trace of simpleness. Her language manages to be both plain and rich and it's easy to imagine a youngster becoming quickly engrossed in the tale she tells.

It's a refreshing story. Modern problems, yes. But there is no horror here. No real ugliness. Girl wants horse. Girl meets horse. Girl falls in love with horse and finds a way to make it all happen. Girl learns to deal with the reality of dreams coming true. It's the kind of book that pleasant dreams are made of. No preaching. No covert moral tale. But enough real life to make the story comfortable and the characters recognizable.

Rebel of Dark Creek sets the scene for a series of StableMates books by Nikki Tate for Sono Nis Press. If Tate can maintain the pace and quality she sets in book one, a lot of horse mad youngsters will have fodder for their dreams for a long time to come.

Linda Rogers
The January Review

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