In yet another of my "read over and over as a kid and lost but now found" review series, I bring you Summer Pony. In this amazing book, a young girl's parents rent a pony for her for one summer. They go to a totally run down farm where 20 ponies are being kept in horrible conditions (which in a story today would culminate in the farm owner being charged with animal cruelty, but whatever it was the 70s). She chooses a shabby, dirty, neglected pony with two different colored eyes and then proceeds to be the BEST PONY OWNER EVER.I hate to spoil this for you because it's some serious non-stop action and drama. PONY DRAMA, people. It really doesn't get much better than this if you are an 8 year old in 1985.
There isn't anything I don't love about this book -- one of my all time favourites from when I was a kid. I love the story of a girl getting a less than impressive pony, rented just for the summer. I love the hard work and care given the pony to make her strong and healthy and beautiful. I love the story of friendship and courage, and the lessons learned throughout the summer. I love the beautiful cover and the illustrations. And, most of all, I love sharing this with my three daughters, in the hopes that this will become one of their childhood favourites, too. Highly recommend, especially for the horse mad -- young or old.
Do You like book Summer Pony (1976)?
I read this book as a child and recently recommended it to a parent who has a child who is all about horses right now. It is the best horse book I can remember reading as a kid.Ginny's parents rent a horse for her for the summer. She imagines a beautiful, sleek pony, but she gets a half-starved neglected pony with a sweet temper instead. Ginny nurtures the pony back to health and learns valuable lessons about caring for something other than herself.The book is gently paced and sweet. If you can find a copy of this book (I believe it may be out of print), add it to your to-read pile.
—Caitlintobin
Jean Slaughter Doty's Summer Pony and its sequel, Winter Pony, were two of my all time favorite childhood horse stories. Classic themes of wanting a pony and not having one, the social distance between the girl with the "good" pony (and the hired groom to care for it, and all the ribbons at the local show, etc.) and the girl with the motley, shaggy, rented pony--all written up into a pair of stories that pretty much can't be beat. So many happy hours were spent reading and rereading these books--thank you, JSD!
—Mia
