Jessa Be Nimble, Rebel Be Quick

Lisa Arsenault is an elementary-school teacher in Ajax, Ontario.

Jessa Be Nimble, Rebel Be Quick is the third in the StableMates series,
featuring Jessa, her horse Rebel, and Dark Creek Stables.

Jessa, a Grade 6 student living in Victoria, is about to achieve
competition-class status in horse-jumping. However, she has a phobia
about water jumps and is terrified of cantering into a pool of murky
water. The process of overcoming this fear is the book’s main theme.
Skilfully interwoven with it are subsidiary themes. The principal
chooses Jessa to mentor a new girl in her class who is from Japan and
speaks little English. Jessa’s best friend is auditioning for a role
in a play and is overconfident about attaining it. Midori, the Japanese
girl, covets a place on the gymnastics team.

The reader becomes caught up in the trials and aspirations of these
three girls. The scenarios crafted by the author are authentic. Although
the girls support each other in their individual endeavors, the author
resists the pitfall of making their interaction too sweet. For instance,
Jessa occasionally gets tired of constantly mentoring Midori.

The girls’ conversations have a genuine adolescent ring. There is
also some elegant writing (as in the description of Rebel’s sprouting
wings and flying in Jessa’s dream) and imagery (as in the comparison
of Midori on her first day of school to a young deer about to be run
over by a school bus). This novel is recommended for its realistic
treatment of adolescent issues and for its use of language appropriate
to the genre.