About the Author
Susan Carpenter Noble grew up as a horse-crazy kid in Central Pennsylvania. While earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Education (with an emphasis in math and science) from Penn State University, she was able to spend summers as a working student at a Hunter-Jumper Stable in New Jersey. Upon graduation from PSU, she tucked the degree in her hip pocket and headed west to intern for a year with legendary horseman/clinician Monte Foreman, in Colorado. For the next several years, she worked out of various training stables, mostly in Colorado.
Along the way, she met a man who also showed Reiners, Hunters, and Jumpers, so she married him. He immediately stopped riding (except on hunting trips or when reluctantly roped in to help with an extra horse or two.) But, fortunately, he understands her passion for horses and has put up with her, and it, for over 40 years.
She has taught riding clinics around the country, written for national horse magazines, and trained state champions in Reining, Western Riding, Hunter Hack, and Working Hunter. She has also coached students to Regional and State Championships in Western Equitation, Trail, Barrel Racing, and Dressage.
She and her husband live in Colorado, snowbirding to Arizona in the winter.
Why the horse books?
When one of Susan Carpenter Noble’s riding students was 12-years-old, she asked him what he was reading. Since he had been a voracious reader in elementary school, she was shocked when he informed her he had quit. He said, “all the books for us Middle Grade kids are Sci Fi or Fantasy and that’s not what I want to read about! Who’s writing for us ranch kids?”
That broke her heart.
Having written occasional how-to articles for national horse magazines, she decided it was time to write a book. Her years as a horse trainer, instructor, and clinician gave her plenty of potential story lines, so the writing was fun. Not fun – and very time-consuming – was trying to find a Publisher. She discovered you can’t just talk to a Publisher; you must first find a literary agent to represent the book. In searching for one who shared her enthusiasm for this genre, she learned that most literary agents are from NYC or California. When trying to talk with them about stories involving horses and cattle, she said she could practically hear their eyes glazing over.
Finally, an editor heard her read a short story at a writing group in Arizona and invited her to publish through her independent publishing company, Square Peg. They liked her writing style and were happy to have what they called “a clean teen” author on their team.
Since the first book came out, in March of 2020, it has been incredibly gratifying for Noble to hear from horse-crazy kids – along with a surprising number of adults – how much the books have meant to them, including:
- the young girl who lives on a cattle ranch in Hawaii who, after winning a copy of Cowgirls Don’t Quit at a horse show, was overwhelmed to know there was a book about her lifestyle;
- the mother who said her daughter had been “a reluctant reader until she read Cowgirls Don’t Quit and The Free Horse;”
- the old rancher who drawled, “That was a good read.”
The other thing she’s hearing a lot is, “When is your next book coming out?”
Book Three, Half a Saddle Off, is expected to be in print by summer of 2022. Book Four is currently finding its way from her head onto the written page.
Why a World War II book?
As a child, little Susie Carpenter, thought she had the best Dad ever, and never tired of hearing his stories: the ones he made up, the ones he read to her siblings and her, and the few he told about his experiences in World War II.
When her father was in his late 80s, her sister, Peggy Carpenter King, was visiting and found their dad pulling papers out of an old box, reading them, and throwing them away. When she asked what he was up to, he handed her one. She read it, stunned to see that it was a letter he had written home to his mother during World War II. Peggy rescued all the letters she could find out of the trash, and asked him not throw any more away.
He was surprised at that, saying that no one would be interested in them, as there was nothing of military value.
“Well, I’m interested, Dad!” she told him. She then shared them with the family during her sister Susan’s next visit “home.”
Noble was amazed at the story the letters told and immediately typed them into the computer chronologically. She interviewed her dad for background information, gathered photographs and relevant newspaper articles, and put them all together in spiral notebooks for each family member.
She then asked her dad – and mom – for permission to try to publish the letters as a book. Both solicitously agreed, with that knowing smile that said, “You’re such a dreamer.” It took time to find a publisher, so, sadly, neither parent lived to see the book in print.
Even so, Noble is certain, from the heart-felt comments and reviews Dear Toots has been garnering, that it was absolutely the right thing to do. The book has allowed people whose parents or grandparents served in the war, but never talked about it, to get a sense of what that time in history felt like – at least, from one soldier’s point of view.