Incidentally, the Harry Potter Lexicon trial started today:

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Misty of Chincoteague

oh! I haven't thought about Marguerite Henry in years. She so fed my pre-teen horse love.

There's a copy on alibris for about $800...ijs. Not signed, though. There are copies there also that look to be in much better shape than the Powell's copy, and there is at least one copy there that is not only first edition, but first printing.

twitches gently

See, I don't need a signed first edition, because the copy that is the most important to me IS signed: the version that was released when the movie came out, that I won as a prize at the first SF/F con my dad ever took me to. But I DO want a first edition, some day.

(Not only is my childhood copy of SWTWC signed, but I recently found the photos I have of Ray Bradbury holding Clovis. Yes, I met one of my writing idols and asked him to pose for a photo with my fanged bunny. He didn't bat an eye at the request.)

Considering Ray Bradbury and his fan base, that's probably not the oddest request he's gotten. (And Clovis does have lovely company manners.)

I want a first edition set of the Anne of Green Gables books.

And the British copies of HP.

oh! I haven't thought about Marguerite Henry in years. She so fed my pre-teen horse love.

All the pre-KY Derby stuff on ABC this past few weeks has put her in my head. One of my favorite kids books is Born to Run, her book on harness racing. And Jeopardy just had a question on which horse breed was named after an American colonial farmer (or whatever he did), and I blurted out, "Justin Morgan Had a Horse!" Oh, and on my just-returned-from vacation, my mom and I were driving from NJ to FL, and in looking over the road atlas for VA, I noticed Chincoteague and Assateague on the coast.

We drove through Assateague! Ponies stuck their heads in our windows. The mosqitoes were as big as helicopters, though.

We've been watching Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and last week he was at the Spanish Riding School and I prattled on about levades, courbettes and caprioles to my only mildly interested roommate.

I credit Ms. Henry (and other horse-related pre-teen books I read then) with the fact that, the first time I was ever on a horse by myself when our family did a horse-trek in Arkansas when I was around 10, I had perfect posture and knew exactly how to keep my heels down and hold the reins. I had the most control of my mount out of my entire (all older) family.

(BTW, love your tagline, Laga! I was just commenting to MFNLaw about the Wilde line on the Water Tower when I gave her a driving tour of the city last month.)

I found this gorgous picture.

I had perfect posture and knew exactly how to keep my heels down

I still forget to keep my heels down. I blame my english style background and the fact that I'm taking western lessons now.

love your tagline, Laga!

Why thank-you. I always knew he'd called it a castellated monstrosity but I hadn't seen the whole quote until I went looking for the full context of Nelson Algren's line about loving Chicago is like loving a woman with a broken nose. (I never did find the whole Algren piece) Wilde goes on about how much he hates Chicago but I couldn't fit it all in my tagline.

So I'm reading What Looks Like Crazy On an Ordinary Day.

I adore this book. It has officially rocketed to the top of my favorite books ever. Plus, it takes place in Michigan which is always awesome and it takes place in Idlewild, which the Michigan Historical Society (or some such group) is working on restoring back to it's glory days and turning it back into a resort town. My parents cottage is about 40 miles or so away.

But, I LOVE Ava. She is just magnificent.