Cecil Bodker

Award-winning Danish author and poet. Born in Fredericia in 1927. She has written many books for children and quite a few have been translated into English language and published in the USA. She won the 1976 Hans Christian Anderson Award. Her Silas books are probably her most well-known books, these form a long series about a runaway circus boy and his horse. The first three of the Silas books have been translated into English and published in the USA (only one was published in the UK as far as I know). The series was made into a TV series in German and a dubbed version was shown by the BBC in the 1980s.

Pony Books in the Silas Series:
These form part of a much longer series about a runaway boy called Silas and his many adventures. Only three of them were published in English. These were the first three in the series and are arranged in the reading/publishing order.

1) SILAS AND THE BLACK MARE
aka SILAS OG DEN SORTE HOPPE
(BRANNER OG KORCH (DENMARK) 1967)
(1st American edition DELACORTE 1967)
(1st UK edition OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 1978
First published in Denmark in 1967. First English language version translated by Sheila Lafarge and published in the USA in 1967.
Published in the UK in 1978 by OUP.
Also a German edition.
SUMMARY: 13 year old Silas runs away from his circus home. He wins a black mare in a wager, but has to struggle to stop others taking her away from him.

2) SILAS AND BEN GODIK
aka SILAS OG BEN GODICK
(BRANNER OG KORCH (DENMARK) 1969)
(1st American edition DELACORTE 1978)
First published in Denmark. First English language version translated by Sheila Lafarge and published in the USA in 1978.
Also a German edition.
SUMMARY: Silas and his friend Ben travel the country on their horses trying to make a living and getting into scrapes!

3) SILAS AND THE RUNAWAY COACH
aka SILAS FANGER ET FIRSPAND
(BRANNER OG KORCH (DENMARK) date unknown)
(1st American edition DELACORTE 1972)
First published in Denmark. First English language version translated by Sheila Lafarge and published in the USA in 1978.
Also a German edition.
SUMMARY: Silas stops a runaway four-in-hand team and befriends its owner.

For those interested in the full series please visit the Wikipedia link for the author's bibliography.

The series was adapted for German TV and was broadcast in the UK (dubbed) - see link for more info.

Collector's Info:
The books are easy to find in the USA and presumably in their native Denmark! There were also German editions. The first book was published in the UK, but this edition is rarely seen and all the books are hard to find in Britain, and elsewhere.