Save the Thoroughbred Series

To Whom It May Concern,

It has recently come to our attention that you plan on ending the much-loved Thoroughbred Series after the publication of the 72nd edition of said series later this year. We find this decision to be very upsetting, and would like to ask you very seriously to reconsider.

Over the 14 years that this series and its spin-offs have been in publication, it has earned a large and devoted following. In the year 2000, the whitebrookfarm.com fan site (henceforth referred to as wbf.com) was established in order to gather information about and fans of the series in one place on the World Wide Web. By July 2004, the first message board for the site, located at http://p203.ezboard.com/bwhitebrookfarms, had accumulated 500 members. In July 2004, the website switched servers to allow it to grow along with its popularity, and in roughly six months, over 100 members have already reregistered and remain active participants in discussion and other Thoroughbred Series related activity. To further evidence the fans devotion to the website and the series, the costly server switch was financed not by the websites owner and maintainer, but by the members of the community, through a series of generous donations.

Many of the readers of the Thoroughbred Series fall not within the target demographic of grammar school readers, but instead range anywhere from their early teens to their late twenties in age, with the bulk of us falling toward loyal older readers, who have stuck with the series since they first started reading it years ago, when they actually were members of the target demographic. Many of us have been readers for anywhere from five, to over ten years, and have no intention of abandoning these books any time in the near or distant future. We have stuck with these books through thick and thin, through numerous author changes. When the series headed in a direction that we didnt agree with at advent of the New Generation 1998, we took action, and through us the series was redirected. And now we take action again to save a series which, since our early childhood, has served both as a source of entertainment, a moral compass, and, to some of us, an entity as beloved as a dear friend.

To end the series now, when it has garnered such a loyal and active following, and continues to inspire both new and old readers alike, would be a shame. Involvement with this series, for many of us, has had a huge impact on our lives for many years, whether it be through inspiring stories and characters, promoting interest in future careers (whether they be in the horse racing industry or in the literary field), and has given us fictional companions, as well as forged real life friendships, created by the international community of Thoroughbred fans, that are now years old, and continue to grow and flourish even outside of the framework of the Thoroughbred Series and the wbf.com website. And perhaps most importantly of all, the Thoroughbred Series has kept a generation of girls, both young and old alike, from all over the world, more interested and engaged in reading and writing than many other forms of conventional entertainment, which is extremely rare in our world today.

The Thoroughbred Series continues to interest new and old readers, and remains one of the most original series in its genre due to its premise and structure. It is truly one of a kind, and has a devoted following not often seen attached to a childrens series.

Based on this evidence, we hope that you will reconsider your decision to end the Thoroughbred Series. We have fought for these books before, and we are ready and willing to fight for them again.

Thank you for you time and consideration.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned.