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buuboobaby's review
4.0
4 stars
Lots of tween angst when Maddie learns that her favorite lesson pony, Cloudy, might be leaving the barn and going back to her old owners. Catherine Hapka delivers another engaging, accurate horse book, this time featuring the ponies made famous in Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague.
Full review soon
Lots of tween angst when Maddie learns that her favorite lesson pony, Cloudy, might be leaving the barn and going back to her old owners. Catherine Hapka delivers another engaging, accurate horse book, this time featuring the ponies made famous in Marguerite Henry's Misty of Chincoteague.
Full review soon
anna_catherman's review against another edition
2.0
A nice children's book that, while not up to the standards of Marguerite Henry classics, does a reasonably good job of appealing to young Chincoteague Pony lovers. It feels overall like a fairly cliche young reader's horse book, but the ending was delightfully imperfect (subverting a common trope while still turning out happy). It was an okay read and a good way to revisit the literature of my childhood, but I'm not planning on continuing the series.
mrskatiefitz's review
2.0
A tribute to Marguerite Henry’s famous works about Chincoteague ponies, the Ponies of Chincoteague series focuses on 21st century tween pony fanatics. Maddie and her friends, who keep in touch via an online chat site, each ride a Chincoteague pony. While the other girls have ponies of their own, Maddie relies on the kindness of her riding instructor, who typically reserves a pony named Cloudy just for Maddie to ride. In the first book of the series, Maddie's Dream, Cloudy’s previous owners - who treated her poorly before selling her - want to buy her back. Maddie is desperate to raise enough money to make an offer of her own, knowing that if she can’t, she may lose Cloudy and her friendships with the other girls.
This middle grade series shares much in common with the author’s easy reader series, The Pony Scouts. The girls in both series are enthusiastic and informed, and they solve problems by being resourceful and helping one another. Both also emphasize equestrian vocabulary by including glossaries, and both use a straightforward, no-frills writing style. It will be very natural for girls who read The Pony Scouts as new readers to move onto the Ponies of Chincoteague as fluent readers.
Though Maddie’s Dream is the first book of the series, it feels a little bit like something should come before it. The long-distance friendship among the four pony riders is not really explained, which gives the reader the sense of having missed something. The fact that Maddie only interacts with her friends online using chat speak also makes it harder for the reader to feel the importance and warmth of their friendship. The story’s main conflict is also solved way too easily after all of Maddie’s hard work and anxiety, which accomplishes and teaches nothing.
The Ponies of Chincoteague will have no trouble finding an audience, as horse books are always popular. Though this book pales in comparison to Henry’s original stories, it does provide a nice opportunity for girls to feel like they are a part of a larger community of horse and pony lovers. Ponies of Chincoteague also looks like a much more wholesome alternative to the sometimes soap opera-esque plots in the Saddle Club books.
This middle grade series shares much in common with the author’s easy reader series, The Pony Scouts. The girls in both series are enthusiastic and informed, and they solve problems by being resourceful and helping one another. Both also emphasize equestrian vocabulary by including glossaries, and both use a straightforward, no-frills writing style. It will be very natural for girls who read The Pony Scouts as new readers to move onto the Ponies of Chincoteague as fluent readers.
Though Maddie’s Dream is the first book of the series, it feels a little bit like something should come before it. The long-distance friendship among the four pony riders is not really explained, which gives the reader the sense of having missed something. The fact that Maddie only interacts with her friends online using chat speak also makes it harder for the reader to feel the importance and warmth of their friendship. The story’s main conflict is also solved way too easily after all of Maddie’s hard work and anxiety, which accomplishes and teaches nothing.
The Ponies of Chincoteague will have no trouble finding an audience, as horse books are always popular. Though this book pales in comparison to Henry’s original stories, it does provide a nice opportunity for girls to feel like they are a part of a larger community of horse and pony lovers. Ponies of Chincoteague also looks like a much more wholesome alternative to the sometimes soap opera-esque plots in the Saddle Club books.
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