The Perfect Distance » (Reprint)

Kim Ablon Whitney is a full-time writer and part-time horse show judge who recently received her Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from Emerson College. She lives with her husband, son, and greyhound in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Seventeen-year-old Francie Martinez rides with one of the best equitation trainers in the country, and works as a groom to pay her way. She’s dreamed of winning the Maclay finals, and now that it’s her last year to compete the pressure is really on. But just when Francie needs to focus more than ever, everything turns upside down, and soon she’s not so sure if winning is really all that important, much less the point.
In this fast-paced coming-of-age story, brimming with fascinating details about the competitive horse world, Kim Ablon Whitney has drawn on her own experiences to create a backdrop perfect for Francie’s story as she tries to figure out who she wants to be and what really matters in life.

Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger - Children's Literature

Francie Martinez feels like she doesn't fit in anywhere. She doesn't fit in at school because she rides horses competitively and misses so much school. Besides, she isn't around enough to be part of the social scene. At the barn she has friends and rides well, but she isn't like the rest of the riders because her father is Mexican and a groom-turned-barn manager and she has to work in the stables to pay for her lessons. Personally, she feels betrayed by her mother--who left shortly after she was born, has never contacted Francie, and went on to marry a more "acceptable" (white) man and have three perfect-looking blond children. As she approaches what could turn out to be the most important competition of her life, Francie must decide for herself the difference between right and wrong and just how far she is willing to go to win. The most obvious audience is horse lovers, but Whitney captures her teenage characters' feelings and traumas so well that even girls who are not interested in equestrian events will enjoy the story. 2005, Alfred A. Knopf, Ages 12 to 18.