Marion Brooker (1932- ) lives in Edmonton, Alberta, where she and her husband enjoy being close to their family and grandchildren and keeping pets. Her writings for youth began with her work on Educational Radio. She drew on her experiences growing up on a farm in southern Manitoba for her novel for young people "Noreen and the Amazing No-Good Horse," which is published by Borealis Press.

Noreen plans to enter their family horses (Darnley and Wally) as Pegasus and the fire-breathing monster in the Sports Day Silly Pet Parade. She is not sure why winning is so important to her, but knows it is tied up with the fact that she is tired of being short. To make matters worse, her best friend Patty is tall for her age and gets to stand in the second row with the older kids at the Christman concert. For these reasons, and others, Noreen does not tell Patty she is entering the Silly Pet Parade. The pet parade holds a few surprises that not even Noreen had planned for!