Pony Crazy

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

Many girls go through a stage where they want to own a pony or at the very least be able to ride one. Meg is one of those horse crazy girls. She draws them, thinks about them, and has a room filled with toy ponies and horses. Unfortunately, she lives in the city where there are no horses roaming about. Things change when the family moves to the country. At her new school Meg meets a girl named Jill whose mother owns ponies. What excitement the day she is invited to Jill's and has a chance to meet and make another friend, Annie, and best of all meet the ponies. The girls are enjoying hot chocolate in Jill's kitchen when they decide that they would like to see more of each other and the ponies. They are potentially the Pony Scouts and then the fun begins as they spend time together, ride the ponies, and earn ribbons. It would appear that this could be the start of a new series. A level 2 book in the "I Can Read!" series. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot

Children's Literature - Kathy Leggett

Some books are meant to be put in the hands of beginning readers and the "I Can Read Books" series has been doing just that since 1957, creating casts of characters that generations of children have loved. This book continues in the same tradition, with the creation of a little girl named Meg who is crazy about horses. Meg loves anything that is related to horses. She thinks about horses, talks about horses, and draw pictures of horses; but Meg lives in the city and has never seen a real horse. That soon changes when Meg moves to the country. On the first day at her new school, Meg meets Jill, who lives on a real horse farm. A friendship begins, as the girls get to know one another and become "the pony scouts." This sweet story will have young horse lovers begging for more. This is a level two "I Can Read Book," designed to be read by developing readers with the help of a parent or caregiver. The text, along with the whimsical illustrations, captures readers and guides them with carefully planned content. A note to parents explains the developmental reading stages and how to offer encouragement and support to enable a child to advance to the more complex stories in level three books. Progress should then continue on to level four books, and ultimately move from reading with an adult to reading books independently. A child's love of reading could very well begin right here. Reviewer: Kathy Leggett