Pony Parade

Animal Ark Pets (UK Order) #7

by Ben M. Baglio

Paul desperately wants to adopt a neglected and abused pony from the animal shelter, but first he must prove to everyone that he has the time to give the pony the care and love it needs. Original.

Genres: Animals, Horses, Childrens

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1999

About the author

Ben M. Baglio created the brief for two series of children's books - Dolphin Diaries and Animal Ark. Dolphin Diaries features a girl and her family from Florida, who travel around the world as marine biologists and study dolphins. Animal Ark features two children who work together to help animals and solve animal-related mysteries. The books were written by commissioned writers in the UK under Baglio's instruction using the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. Each ghostwriter is named with a 'Special Thanks' on the copyright page.

Using his real name he also wrote the book series The Pet Finders Club, featuring a group of three children who search for peoples lost pets.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the UK Hodder edition, with the fake author name of Lucy Daniels. In America, this would be published by Scholastic under the fake author name of Ben Baglio. The real author is Pat Posner.

Most of the Animal Ark Pets books are so similar that they're just not that memorable. This book is different in that has one of the more memorable plots. The most successful of the Animal Ark Pets books stick with caring for animals, and don't muck about with silly B plots like school plays or fundraisers.

In this book, James and Blackie get to go on vacation without Mandy. Kinda wonder if they felt relieved. Since James is gone, Mandy needs a James-substitute, and finds one in Paul Stevens, the new kid in town. He just happens to love ponies. He adopts a very sickly Exmoor Pony. Even when this was published in 1997, Exmoors were rare. Nice to see them get some good publicity.

There is a complete misunderstanding about both Mandy and Paul abusing the pony, since he's so thin and sickly for a while. The pair become ostracized at their school because of the misunderstanding. It was a believable twist.

Prince and his original family put in an important cameo here. Prince was the pony featured in the second Aminal Ark book, Pony In the Porch. He also pops up every now and then throughout the original series. It's nice that a ghostwriter actually tried to have some continuity in her book. This doesn't happen much in big series that rely on a stable of ghostwriters.

The book does fall apart a bit at the end into general silliness, but overall it's a nice ride. I'd recommend reading at least Puppy Puzzle before this book.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the random books I read, I read "cold"—without looking at anything about it beyond the title and volume number (if applicable, and only sometimes)—sometimes because just the back cover can spoil some of the story.

Well, I pretty much knew the whole story when I got to Chapter 4: "The Sad Pony."

Until that point, the story only gets into how a new family moves in, and the boy (Paul) is nearly Mandy's age AND loves ponies, so much so that his family is getting one for him—and Mandy's veterinarian parents help choose! But with a chapter title like that, how would the story NOT be about picking the "sad" (abused by his former owner) pony?

About the only surprises from that point are Paul/Mandy/James getting bullied/shunned because one of their schoolmates saw Paul's sad pony and thought that PAUL was the abuser, instead of Paddy's rehabilitator, and how quickly the misunderstanding is cleared up AND apologies made. Also, just how quickly Paddy acclimatises to loving carers, but possibly Paddy was already well aware that good humans exist—just not the one who owned him last.

A good-ish read for pony/horse lovers, if a bit maudlin. The setup for the titular pony parade also felt a bit weird, but it probably was for the best that Paul and Paddy only made an appearance in the closing events, vs. in the gymkhana.

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A boy rescues a pony from a shelter, it had been terriably treated by previous owners. And now Paul with the help of Mandy Hope and James Hunter must get him back into good condition, stop rumors at school and just have a right old good time!

[☠☼Serena☼☠ · Rating 5 out of 5]

HORSE....yay!

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because I love horses I even drive about riding some, sometimes I dream and I wake up on a horse and it's my best friend. Horses are my favorite animal.