The One Dollar Horse by Lauren St John: review What's unusual and interesting about the heroine is that Casey, who was two when her mother died on the operating table, is from a decrepit Hackney tower block. She lives with her out-of-work ex-con father. When Casey saves an emaciated, broken-looking horse from the knacker's yard (her father uses the crumpled dollar he had found on the street to pay for the horse) the teenager triggers a set of events that open up the chance of making her amazing dream come true. "One deranged skeleton of a horse sold to a couple of lunatics for a dollar," says the man who'd been about to have the horse put down. St John is writing for a slightly older audience than her award-winning Laura Marlin series and any new readers will be enthralled by her new characters. Casey is strong-willed and gritty. She's described as having intelligent grey eyes which "burned with an intensity that was quite unsettling, and that there was a blue ring around the pupils, almost as if nature had intended them to be the colour of a sunny sky but a storm had moved in." It's no wonder she calls the horse Storm Warning. St John, who grew up on an African farm, vividly brings to life the dreams of a youngster to be a champion and captures the excitement and drama of top-level riding and the risks and gambles involved. As well as a thrilling adventure story, there is substance to the themes explored in the book. The value of friendship and trust are shown in Casey's heartwarming relationship with a quirky old woman called Mrs Smith. There is romance - as Casey falls for the likeable farrier Peter - and there is rivalry and spite. Anna Sparks, the star rider who is a phony and shallow "take-your-breath-away beauty," is an example of how damaging it is to be spoiled and selfish. It won't do to give away too much of the plot - and a sequel called Race The Wind is planned - but one of the best characters in this thrilling rags-to-riches tale is Storm Warning. You can't help but identify with this courageous animal and St John makes you feel the thrill of what it must be like to jump over a fence on such a horse with such heart and soul. No nagging doubts, this book's a winner. Lauren St John: The One Dollar Horse (Orion Children's Books, £9.99)