Alison is at boarding school. There is no love lost between Alison and her English teacher, and when Miss Boddington sarcastically suggests she writes a book, Alison decides that is just what she will do. Should she write something with her school-friends, or write an historical adventure herself? Or write about what she knows? Alison goes for ponies.

Writing a book is tough, particularly when you are at school, and the people you thought were friends turn out not to be. But Alison is a true Cannan heroine. She goes her own way, and she works to achieve what she wants.

The book's author, Joanna Cannan, takes some entertaining swipes at the pony-book genre, and if you've read any of her daughters' output (she was the mother of the Pullein-Thompson sisters) you can entertain yourself by spotting their titles in amongst those at which Joanna pokes fun. I Wrote a Pony Book is also a wry look at schoolgirl friendships and the strains of going home for the holidays, and is one of the few books to combine the school and pony book genres successfully.