Making Strides: 2 (Chestnut Hill)

Brought this series for daughters birthday.

Thanks so much for quick delivery my daughter is very pleased nearly have the set can't wait to read them

Equestrian school story set in an American boarding school! Great YA read.

I'm an (ahem) older female reader of children's books. I've always loved Enid Blyton's "Malory Towers", "St. Clares" and "Naughtiest Girl" books, and had been seeking out more "School Story" books at my local library. I saw the "Chestnut Hill" books there, but was initially sceptical. I'm British and autistic, and in general, I don't "get" American TV programmes, films or books. So, I approached this series with some caution. I have to say that despite my initial reservations, I'm loving the books. The settings and language are up-to-date. They have all the traditional boarding school elements: one-upmanship, dares and jokes, the "posh" girl (Sssssss) versus the scholarship girl, success and failure, all served up with considerable wit and charm, and peopled by rounded, believable characters. Oh, and you don't have to know anything about riding or horses to enjoy these books; the closest I've ever got to serious horse-riding is pony-trekking on holidays! However, I love animals, so I found all the "horsy" stuff fascinating, anyway.

This book is brilliant to all horse lovers.My daughter,Penny,loved this book.I think you will have to read the Heartland sereies first before reading this book;because it really carries on from that.So recommend this book!Thank you

my daughter enjoyed the book.

Like most books we can each find points we like and dislike, and what I dislike may not bother anyone else. The good points include a school which puts horse sports on the priority list, and good horse management is shown. Competitions and riding skills are nicely described, and the girls are far from perfect.Not so good - isn't the attitude of one rich girl who looks down on another girl who came in on a scholarship, just a lazy stereotype? In every series there is a rich girl who is rude to a poorer girl. Would her parents approve of her rudeness? Is there any other reason for this? I like the touch of understanding we get for this young lady when she is pushing herself too hard to excel at every sport and society, because that is what girls in her family have to do.In this tale we follow a scholarship girl who falls for a difficult horse. This horse is not a riding school type and seems to have been introduced mainly so the author could drag in a character from another series who does a basic Monty Roberts join-up. Way to push your other series on young readers. In reality I don't think a difficult horse would be purchased, for insurance reasons, and definitely the riding school mistress would be the first to sit on any new horse, not a girl whose name was picked from a hat.The book was written in 2005 and I think schoolgirls should have been shown taking computer classes. But my main objection is to the terminology used in the school. Just think what it would do to young teens to come into an awe-inspiring top-notch school and to be told they are underclassmen. And the senior girls are upperclassmen. I have never come across these terms previously and was appalled. The terms sound dystopian. I don't care if this exists in every Ivy League school; the author has invented this girls' school and she should be able to set a better example. Class distinctions and superiority / inferiority are bad enough, but to call girls men as though there is no other option in a girls' school is shockingly bad. Are the boys in the boys' school St Kits, called underclasswomen? Well then. These young ladies are the future of industry and society. So are the female readers. Authors are of course free to choose what they write, but my personal belief is that this author should be thinking a lot harder about the impression she is giving to young minds.This is an unbiased review.

I loved this book. If you follow the Chestnut Hill Series, this is a must. It is really interesting, and this series is great!

Good series, for older girls.

A gift