Sweet pony fiction that ticks all the boxes and delivers depth beyond genre.
In Count’s middle-grade novel, a young girl bonds with her elderly neighbor’s pony and is distraught when he sends him away.
Twelve-year-old Grace has fallen in love with the pony next door, a buckskin gelding she names Preacher (because his whinnying and pacing remind her of her dad’s sermons at church). Preacher belongs to Mr. Harvey, an irascible old widower for whom Grace’s mother prepares food and whom Grace has adopted as her “grump-pa” (“Thank you, Grace. You’re very kind to a grumpy old man”). When Mr. Harvey hurts his foot, Grace leaps at the chance to help him feed Preacher. Soon, she’s grooming the pony and preparing him to have his hooves clipped. When she tries to ride him, however, the ensuing accident only serves to convince Mr. Harvey and Grace’s mother that Preacher is dangerous. Desperate to show otherwise, Grace signs up for summer horse camp and riding lessons. She’s sure that if she learns the ropes herself, she’ll be able to train Preacher—and maybe even buy him from Mr. Harvey. Her hopes are dashed when she comes home from camp to find Preacher gone; Mr. Harvey, who is suffering from dementia, has sent him away and can’t remember where. Will Grace ever be reunited with her beloved horse? Count crafts a straightforward narrative with easy, cantering prose. Grace is an endearing protagonist, full of love, optimism and excitement—but, on the flip side, she also exhibits a debilitating urgency and a flurry of “what if?” doubts. The relationship she forms with Mr. Harvey is a heartfelt bond that, when revealed, proves unexpectedly touching. Mr. Harvey himself is a well-drawn character, both his dementia and his affectionate nature hidden beneath a gruff exterior, an aversion to religion, and lingering grief over his wife’s death. The story is full of horse-talk and equine adoration sufficient to warm the hearts of all those who love ponies (in real life or on the page).
Sweet pony fiction that ticks all the boxes and delivers depth beyond genre.Pub Date: Feb. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781952371189
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Hastings Creations Group
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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