Saturday, 1 September 2012

The Pony Detectives: Phantom One Last Chance by Belinda Rapley (Children's, 9 years +, 10/10)



August 2012, Templar
224 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Themes: having your own pony, pony mad girls, farm life, friendship bonds, being at one with your pony, mystery night visitor, a new girl with the world on her shoulders, figuring out the past in order to have a future, lots of mishaps (a few serious, some very funny), a wandering sheep, lots of laughter, a tissue is needed

Summary from Templar 

Saddle up for the Pony Detectives' fourth equine adventure! Charlie's horse has become tricky to ride, and when he bolts one day, Charlie is left injured. To make matters worse, strange things are happening at the yard ¬– tack is being moved and animals let out of the field. The Pony Detectives suspect that someone might be sneaking in and meddling, but can they discover exactly what's going on before things get out of hand? Includes illustrated pony tips.

Nayuleska's thoughts
This is feel good story kept me happily occupied when I read it. I love learning about how to look after a pony, the sheer hard work the girls do for their four legged friends. There's such a huge spirit of friendship between them which stays no matter how awful Charlie feels. This friendship has them working together to solve a very odd mystery, leading to a happy ending with others, not just themselves.

It demonstrates the key issue of chatting with your pony (and other animals), that trust takes a lot of bonding time to develop, and, something I realised while watching a horse series this week, a rider isn't suitable for every horse. Horse and rider need to meet each other's needs, which is looked at in depth in this 10/10 read.

You can find out more on the dedicated website.


Suggested read



Check out the other books in the series including The Pony Detectives: Moonlight: Star of the Show



and you may also like the pony trilogy by Victoria Eveleigh which starts with  Katy's Wild Foal.

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