Katie's Pony Challenge by Victoria Eveleigh (Children's, 9 years +, 10E/10E)

 August 2015, Orion Children's Books, 144 pages, Paperback, Review copies

Content: dealing with emotions, competitiveness, some humour, sweet moments

Book summary

Katy's life has never been busier. What with riding Jacko, keeping Trifle in shape and trying to tame her cheeky foal, Tinkerbell, Katy certainly has her hands full! New neighbour, James, is eager to help but doesn't always seem to save Katy much time! Things are just as hectic for her best friend, Alice, who has a brilliant and demanding show jumping pony. So when Katy hears about a new sport called horse agility, she wonders if it could help her solve all kinds of problems . . .

Nayu's Thoughts    

This is an absolutely heartwarming read horse read from Victoria, with lessons of frustration and jealousy explored by Katy. I kept laughing every time she got in a mood, because I saw my younger self in her (minus the whole having 3 horses thing. I didn't have 1, certainly not 3! For the record I didn't want one, I prefer admiring them from afar. 

Katy learnt a lot about horses – she discovers she doesn't know it all, especially on how to bring up a foal – and I learn a lot from her. The mistakes she made made sense to me when they were pointed out, but until then I didn't think she was doing a lot wrong. She is desperate to prove she can do it all herself, but a fact of life is none of us are perfect, or have all the skills we need to do tasks, such as caring for different types of horses. Katy has to ask for help, which is hard to do but in the end it's worth it. She manages to help a wonderfully sweet boy with extra needs, which softened her frustrations. 

Find out more on Victoria's website. 

Available at most bookstores including NRC affiliate Foyles. 

Suggested read

Be sure to read the other books in this series starting with Katy's Wild foal by Victoria Eveleigh (Children's, 7 years +, 10E/10E)