Great Reads for Great Readers

 

Pony, by R. J. Palacio.                     Junior Fiction.

 

            The celebrated author of ‘Wonder’ has produced something completely different for children this time round:  a novel set in 1859 in Ohio, just before the start of the American Civil War. 12 year-old motherless Silas Bird lives with his father Martin, a photographer and engraver in a small town where one would think, given the difficulty of spreading news in those days, that Mr Bird’s solid reputation for producing wonderful portraits by new methods self-invented would remain in the immediate vicinity.  Sadly not – good work spreads by that best advertisement, Word of Mouth, and very late one night, Mr Bird is visited by a gang of men with two spare horses, one for Mr Bird – and one for Silas.  They are to come with them to visit their boss for a week, and earn more money than they can imagine in their wildest dreams – but if they refuse ….. well, who knows what could happen?  The house set on fire?  A terrible accident befalling Silas?

            The upshot, to Silas’s horror, is that his Pa finally agrees to go off with them, but only if Silas stays put:  he is not to leave the property no matter what.

            And this is a promise that Silas is utterly unable to keep.  He cannot sit idly by, waiting for Pa to come home – or not - especially when next morning, the pony that the men had brought for him to ride with his father suddenly turns up in the yard, waiting. And, despite the uncomfortable fact that Silas has very little experience horse riding (their donkey’s back is the closest he has come to equine travel) he decides to start the search for Pa – much to the horror of his ‘imaginary friend’ Mittenwool, who councils against breaking his promise to Pa.  Mittenwool is the reason Silas has been home schooled all his life by his father, for Silas talked to Mittenwool when he went to school and earned the contempt and derision of not only his class mates, but his horrid teacher as well;  consequently Silas’s education covers many wondrous subjects, but his only companion is Mittenwool – until the mysterious and wondrous arrival of Pony.

            Ms Palacio gives the reader a wonderful combination of wild-west adventure and heroics, nail-biting suspense, and familial love, both actual and spiritual – for Silas also sees spirits – whether he wants to or not, and the spirits he encounters all help him on his quest to find his father.  This is a singular, beautiful book, and deserves to be the children’s classic that ‘Wonder’ has become.  SIX STARS.