I Want a Pony

Pony Pals #1

by Jeanne Betancourt

Lulu wants a pony. If only she had a pony, then staying with her grandmother while her father is away would not be so bad. If she had a pony, she could ride with Pam and Anna. And then they could be friends - Pony Pals!
When Lulu finds a pony in danger, she wants to help the wounded animal. Will she be able to save the beautiful pony?

Genres: Horses, Childrens, Animals, Fiction, Chapter Books, Middle Grade, Contemporary

104 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

When I was growing up I never thought of being an author. I was a terrible speller and didn't want to write any more than I had to. I wanted to be a tap dancer when I grew up. After a few years of teaching junior high and high school, I wrote my first novel. It was a surprise to discover that I liked making up stories and writing them down. I liked it so much that eventually I stopped teaching and became a fulltime writer.

Besides novels for children and young adults, I've also told stories by writing scripts for television and the movies.

I live on the top floor of a sixteen-story building near the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. From my apartment I have a view of Manhattan that includes the Empire State Building and the Plaza Hotel. In my free time I draw, paint, and read. I still love to dance.

Some people think that a writer's life is lonely. But when I'm writing a story I don't feel lonely because I am actively involved with lots of interesting people – the characters in my books. I love knowing that some day readers will get to know these characters, too. If you are one of my readers I hope you have as much enjoyment in reading my stories as I have writing them.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, I forgot all about these books! I used to get them through the mail from scholastic, three at a time. I forget how far I got in the series, but I remember I sold all of them to a lady at a yard sale who got them for her daughter. This was the first horse series I ever read. After these is when I started Thoroughbred. Awe, how I wish I was a kid again so I could go back and read them. I forget what half of them are about anymore...

[Cara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally I have an intense, but quite possibly irrational, dislike of horses, and this book was just full of them... in future I will be sure to read the blurb on the back cover before I start reading...

[Skylar Burris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bet my daughter is going to want me to read every single one of the books in this series aloud to her. Just shoot me now.

[Lara Marie Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of my favorite series as a kid. I had to read it again when I found it at the thrift store, it brought me right back to my youth.

I don’t care, I’m counting this in my reading goal. Haha

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think we may wait awhile to finish the series. It is something that I want to do and Julia says she wants to also but she seemed to lose interest a few times. I know she's pretty young for this type of book but I think the subject just be a little too old for her.
We're going to start a chapter book about some fairy sisters and see how that goes.
I Want a Pony is a great book for younger children starting chapter books. The sentences are simple, and the plot is easy to follow and understand. The part with Snow White being hury shocked me a little. I guess I wasn't anticipating it to be "that" bad - even though it by no means graphic I was worried about how Julia would take it. I think she's a good bit younger than most kids who would read this though so this probably wouldn't affect most kids reading the series.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response:
I liked this book because it had to do with horses. I also liked it because the pony reminded me of the memories I had of my cousins old horse Jasper. It was also kinda boring because it kept repeating the word “lulu.” I give this book four stars because it was good but you could definitely tell it was for little kids.

Plot Summary:
In the beginning of the book Lulu’s dad left to go off to work. She was left to stay with her grandmother. One night she hears her grandmother scream and she sees a pony running around her yard. She gets excited so she decides to follow the pony around the next day. It turns out that a little girl named Anna owned the pony. Curiously she follows Anna and Acorn to find out that there is another little girl named Pam who also has a pony. Sadly Lulu walks away. She goes home and asks her grandmother if she can go for a walk. Adventually she lets Lulu go for a walk. When Lulu is out on the walk she see a white welsh pony. Lulu decides to stay with the pony till later that afternoon. The next day she goes to visit the pony again but she can't find her. She looks around the pasture to find her laying down with barbed wire wrapped around her leg and her side all cut up. The vet comes to fix her up but, the owner of the horse gets all mad at Lulu for causing his horse to hurt itself. Lulu offers to watch over his horse until its leg gets better. Pam and Anna suggest that she should start boarding the horse at Pam's stable until she heals. The owners agree and let Lulu ride the pony also. At the very end Lulu finally gets to ride on the welsh pony named Snow White.

Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to any 4th grader or up for a short easy story. This book would also be good for if you wanted to read a little bit about horses. This book makes a quick, easy goodreads.

[Alice (Alice's Book Vault) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this brought me right back to my childhood. I absolutely adored these novels as a child and I remember why with this re-read. if you know a child who loves horses, this is the series for them.

[Angela R. Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the entire Pony Pals series...

[Stephanie Cheek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a sweet book. As a child, I don’t remember reading this one, the first in the series, and only had a handful from book fairs. These books are a great way for a child to cement his/her love of horses, learn about them, and get lost in the world of being a Pony Pal. Read this to my girls and it’s a great series for any horse lover. I enjoyed this throwback.

[Maggie Haberman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re read this for the first time since I was a child. I used to be obsessed with these books. It holds up extremely well. The plot is charming with enough intrigue to get you into the series. A lovely book for children interested in ponies and horses.

[Kayleigh Espinosa]

Found a copy of one of my favorite books as a little girl. Fun to remanence and I’m counting it towards my reading goal. 😂

[yosann · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to end the year on a banger xD

it was serious enough that i felt mature reading this in elementary and normal rereading this now, but still for kids so i could finish it in maybe 20 minutes and not have to think about anything. i will be reading the entire series again yippee!!!

[Bridget Turecek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Changed my life

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 stars for me, 4 for my five-year-old daughter.
Horse information is inaccurate and writing is not great, but it is a sweet little book that my child enjoyed! Brings back fond memories of my childhood. I do remember as a young reader being relieved when I moved on to the Saddle Club series though (less babyish). 😅

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like some other children's horse books that I have on my Read shelf, I read a lot of the books in this series—though I can't remember how many—as a child because I was horse-obsessed. I loved the series so much that I got the little cookbook that Scholastic put out with recipes from one character's mother (she runs the local diner). I unashamedly admit that the best brownie recipe I have comes from that cookbook. I no longer own the cookbook, but I kept that brownie recipe.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read these when they first came out, being a little girl and a fan of ponies, these were awesome. I think I stopped reading them out of jealousy, I couldn't handle the pony stories when I didn't have a pony of my own, that or my mom just forgot to buy another.

[Julianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Pony Pals book I want a Pony is a book with adventures and events.Although, I thought at parts the book was boring.

[Christine Meunier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great horsey novel for pre teens. More at http://equus-blog.com/i-want-a-pony/

[Kaitlyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this series so long ago. I really wanted a pony before I read these books and after I became even more obsessed with them.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zum Inhalt:
Als ihr Vater wegen der Arbeit ins Ausland muss, wird die junge Lucy bei ihrer Großmutter untergebracht, welche sehr streng ist und einen Friseurladen im Dorf führt. Es scheint mehr als langweilig zu werden, da ist sich Lucy sicher. Doch bereits am ersten Abend hat Lucy ein wirklich erstklassiges Unterhaltungsprogramm, denn das Pony von nebenan bricht aus seiner Koppel aus und schlägt sich den Bauch an den Pflanzen von Lucys Großmutter voll. Für Lucy steht fest, dass sie das Pony und vor allem auch das Nachbarsmädchen besser kennen lernen will. Vielleicht wird es ja doch nicht so öde. Und dann plötzlich findet Lucy ein Pony in Not vor und muss ganz schnell handeln!

Cover:
Das Cover finde ich sehr kindgerecht gestaltet. Zu sehen sind hier die drei Freundinnen, welche sich in dem Buch finden, und natürlich das Wichtigste für eine schöne Pferdegeschichte: Ponys. Wirklich klasse gemacht und vor allem für pferdebegeisterte Mädchen ein absoluter Blickfang.

Eigener Eindruck:
Die Kinderbuchgeschichte aus der Feder von Jeanne Betancourt begeistert durch einfache Sätze und einen schnellen Einstieg in die Geschichte. Das Buch beinhaltet alles, was den klassischen Pferdfreund glücklich macht: süße Ponys und natürlich Freundschaft. Lucy findet in dem Buch sehr schnell neue Freunde, was ich sehr schön fand und auch ihre Begeisterung für die Pferde war voll und ganz nachvollziehbar. Was mich an dem Buch jedoch echt gestört hat war einmal der Besitzer des verletzten Ponys, der an Ekelhaftigkeit schon fast nicht mehr zu übertreffen war und schließlich die Einigung vom Besitzer mit Lucy – das fand ich dann doch ein bisschen sehr weit her geholt, aber okay, es kann ja nicht jede Geschichte damit enden, dass man ein Pferd von der Oma geschenkt bekommt. Und doch bin ich an der Stelle dann ganz schön ins Stocken geraten und musste mich fragen, was denn wohl bei der Entstehung der Geschichte bei diesem Charakter schief gelaufen ist. Würde so etwas im wahren Leben passieren, Gnade Gott. Der Mann würde seines Lebens nicht mehr glücklich werden. Ein klassischer Fall von Gefährdung des Tiereswohls und dann auch noch am liebsten handgreiflich gegenüber dem Tierarzt und dem Kind werden, einfach nur zum Kotzen. Sieht man über diese Punkte hinweg, bekommt man aber eine wirklich schöne und detaillierte Geschichte, die auch erwachsenen Lesern Spaß macht.

Fazit:
Niedliche Geschichte für junge und pferdebegeisterte Mädchen, vor allem auch für Leseanfänger gut geeignet.

Idee: 5/5
Emotionen:4/5
Charaktere: 4/5
Logik: 3/5
Spannung: 3/5

Gesamt: 4 von 5 Sterne

Daten:
ISBN: 9783401050591
Sprache: Deutsch
Ausgabe: Fester Einband
Umfang: 96 Seiten
Verlag: Arena
Erscheinungsdatum: 01.01.2000

[Hannah Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pony Pals is a series that I read often as a child. I've made the decision to reread to series (I still own all of them) for review purposes.

I Want a Pony is the first book in the Pony Pals series. In the book, Lulu has to stay with her grandmother while her dad is out of the country photographing animals. Lulu thinks she's in for a boring time when a shetland pony gelding named Acorn breaks out of his pasture at the neighbors and eats her grandmothers flowers. Lulu loves ponies and wants to be friends with Anna, who owns Acorn, and Pam, Anna's friend who owns a chestnut connemara mare named Lightning. Lulu however feels a little intimidated at the idea of trying to make friends though and is a loner for the first bit of the book. When hiking, she meets a white welsh pony mare named Snow White. Lulu and Snow White bond and when the pony gets her leg wrapped in a barbed wire fence, Lulu must team up with Anna and Pam to save the pony.

I really enjoyed this book, with its great characters, awesome ponies, accurate horse knowledge, and most importantly, realistic situations. The characters act like real people and when they run into problems they have to use solutions that they would if it was real life, such a calling a vet or trying to convince someone to lease out a pony. This is a great book for any horse loving kid or adult, and if a kid isn't into horses, they just might be after they read this book.

[Chrissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found my old collection of Pony Pals books that I used to order from Scholastic once upon a time / back in the 90s. Gave it to my 8yo daughter who then demanded we read it as our inaugural “family book club” read for October. Well, she won’t be granted choosing the bookclub book privileges for a while now (just kidding….). Joking aside though, this book is bad.

The book opens with young Lulu, whose mother recently died (of what we never know) and father then logically needs to travel urgently for work to the jungle (?!), leaving Lulu to go live with her grandmother who lives smack in the middle of horse country yet hates horses. Lulu LOVES horses, and so our drama begins.

Ponies are just everywhere in this book - one hops into the yard in the middle of the night; every girl seems to have their own. Every girl that is except Lulu….. until she finds one! But oh no, it’s injured! So Lulu saves it, nurses it back to health, and earns herself the privilege to lease it, all while making two new (human) friends along the way. The end.

I suppose I’ve lost the childlike obsession with horses I once had, that helped me relate to Lulu’s longing and in so doing ignore the shortcomings of this book - and I can only assume, every other book in the series which I carried on purchasing. I can tell you that I will NOT be bringing the sequels into my life now and that I’ll be choosing the next family book club book.

[BackAlley Books (Brandi Butts) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m giving this book 5 stars not because I remember a single plot line of the entire series but because I know for a fact that this is where my deep rooted obsession with book subscription boxes started. And all my little book baubles on my shelves? Yeah that sprouted with all the little horses and such that came with these books.

This series is also why I was able to read all 16 of the Maasverse books without batting an eye because I’m pretty sure this series had like over 30 books with release dates that expanded my entire childhood.

Thank you pony pals and scholastic book fairs for shaping me into the semi-functioning adult I am today 🤣

[Tammy Schelbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this series as a little girl! I collected most of the books through the Scholastic book club at school, but only recently completed my collection thanks to EBay, Gumtree and second hand book stores. I decided to read the series from the start, now that I own them all. They will contribute to my 2021 reading challenge as #17 a book reminiscent of childhood. I can’t wait to finally find out how the series ends!

[Melissa Namba · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know my niece will enjoy this series. I like the passion of the girls and how they work together to solve the problem of how lulu can get snow white. I hate how the book ends worth the girls calling Rema, a girl they've never met and who has agreed to let lulu take care of snow white, stuck up. way to encourage girl fights.

[Krisz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good story about a girl wanting a pony, and kind of getting it.
This "kind of" makes it a good book, as I'm pretty fed up with unbelievable magic, where kids can miraculously get a horse. As if everyone had the place, time and money to keep horses, and teenage girls could just get a horse without much further ado.

[lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a kid I was obsessed with these books! I would buy them for a dollar whenever I saw them at the library bookstore in my hometown. I reread this book when I was sick and I was transported back to my childhood. I wish that I could have had such a free and beautiful childhood as Lulu. Her grandmother reminds me of my own strong and lovely grandmother :)

[Belle Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like this book because it is about horses. One girl wants a horse and her dreams may come true. Horse used to be one of my favorite animals. But one of my horses died and I was fine now i like tigers.

[Ruthe Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet and innocent story about a girl who is new in town, without a friend or pet of her own. By the end of the book, she has friends plus the companionship of a pony that she helped nurse back to health.

[HK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Middle school me gobbled this series up like it was water in a fifteen-year drought, which just goes to show that everyone deserves to have a horse phase at least once in their lifetime. 5 stars, mostly because of absolute fondness.