Elisa Bialk (1912-1990)

American author. Born in Chicago in 1912. She began her writing career whilst still at school, publishing articles in magazines and newspapers. As an adult she wrote short stories, novels and plays, and one of her stories - The Sainted Sisters - was made into a film. Many of her books were children's stories featuring ponies, including the long running Tizz series.

Tizz Series:
Long-running series for younger readers about Tracy and her pony Tizz and brother Don.

1) TIZZ
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1955)
ILLUSTRATED BY DWIGHT MUTCHLER
SUMMARY: Her grandma gives Tracy a little palomino pony as a present to help her overcome her shyness. It is the start of a long friendship between Tracey and Tizz, the pony.

2) TIZZ TAKES A TRIP
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1956)
ILLUSTRATED BY DWIGHT MUTCHLER
SUMMARY: Tracy and Tizz help brother Don on his paper-route.

3) TIZZ PLAYS SANTA CLAUS
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1957)
ILLUSTRATED BY DWIGHT MUTCHLER
SUMMARY: Tizz gets into the spirit of Christmas by dressing as Santa Claus to visit a sick girl, going carol singing and playing the donkey in the school play!

4) TIZZ AND COMPANY
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1958)
ILLUSTRATED BY KEITH MUTCHLER
SUMMARY: Don hatches up a money making scheme involving Tizz!

5) TIZZ IS A COW PONY
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1961)
ILLUSTRATED BY SUSANNE SUBA
SUMMARY: Tracy, Don and Tizz visit their uncle's ranch in Colorado. There, Tizz learns to herd cattle.

6) TIZZ ON A PACK TRIP
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1961)
ILLUSTRATED BY SUSANNE SUBA
SUMMARY: Still staying on the ranch, Don goes off with Tizz on a pack trip to Glacier National Park, whilst Tracy stays at behind and learns to ride the big horse Frosty.

7) TIZZ ON A HORSE FARM
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: Tracy, Don and Tizz visit a thoroughbred horse farm where they see foals being born and racehorses being trained.

8) TIZZ IN CACTUS COUNTRY
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1964)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: Tracy and Don have moved to a new home in Arizona. Don feels left our as he has no friends or a horse of his own. Then a stray horse appears…

9) TIZZ ON A TRAIL RIDE
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1966)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: Tracy, Don and Tizz go on a long trail ride to San Antonio in Texas.

10) TIZZ IN TEXAS
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1966)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: The children reach the end of their trail ride at the San Antonio Stock Show. There, Tizz is in the parade and Don looks for a horse to buy.

11) TIZZ AT THE STAMPEDE
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1968)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: The family are visiting friends in Canada for the Calgary Stampede, but Tracy has trouble getting along with Sheila who is a tomboy.

12) TIZZ IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1968)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: The family and Tizz go hiking in the Rockies.

13) TIZZ AT THE FIESTA
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1970)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: Tracy, Don and Tizz go to Mexico to visit their grandparents and take part in the Fiesta.

14) TIZZ SOUTH OF THE B0RDER
(CHILDRENS PRESS [USA] 1971)
ILLUSTRATED BY HILDEGARDE LEHMANN
SUMMARY: Whilst on a riding trip in Mexico, an old man takes Tizz, mistaking her for his burro.

Collector's Info:
All the titles are quite easy to find in the USA and usually low cost. Quite hard to find elsewhere, although some titles can be bought cheaply from the USA via Amazon UK.

Other Horse & Pony Books:

THE HORSE CALLED PETE
(HOUGHTON MIFFLIN [USA] 1948)
ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM MOYERS
SUMMARY: Davey and his grandfather return from a circus with a paint trick riding horse called Pete, not knowing that the horse is starting to go blind.

TAFFY'S FOAL
(HOUGHTON MIFFLIN [USA] 1949)
ILLUSTRATED BY WILLIAM MOYERS
SUMMARY: When her father remarries, Nancy must leave her in-foal pony behind at her grandparent's ranch and live in an apartment in Chicago.

RIDE EM' PEGGY
(HOUGHTON MIFFLIN [USA] 1950)
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL BROWN
SUMMARY: Eleven year old Peggy is horse mad. A trip to a Colorado to learn about horses is a dream come true for her!

WILD HORSE ISLAND
(HOUGHTON MIFFLIN [USA] 1951)
ILLUSTRATED BY PAUL BROWN
SUMMARY: City-bred ten year old Jim loves his new life staying on an island ranch, especially when he finds a wild horse for his own!

JILL'S VICTORY
(WORLD [USA] 1952)
ILLUSTRATED BY EDWARD SHENTON
SUMMARY: Jill and her Saddlebred horse Victory stay with her cousins and learn about 4-H.

THE COLT OF CRIPPLE CREEK
(WORLD [USA] 1953)
ILLUSTRATED BY EDWARD SHENTON
SUMMARY: When Clint and his family move to Cripple Creek to start mining there, he must leave behind his beloved colt with the Wades. He is jealous of Ben Wade, who seems to love the colt as much as he does.

Collector's Info:
All these books are very hard to find outside of America and in general are rarer than the Tizz series. Even in the USA, Taffy's Foal and Ride 'Em Peggy are quite hard to find and can be expensive, especially Peggy which has illustrations by the very collectable Paul Brown. Wild Horse Island is also illustrated by Brown and although not that rare, can be quite highly priced too. The other three books are fairly easy to find in the USA and usually reasonably priced.