A Pony to the Rescue

Charming Ponies

by Lois K. Szymanski

When Amanda and her friend Shannon hear a ghost story about a lost silver mine in Rattlesnake Hill, they are determined to find out if it is true. When they set off on horseback to explore, mysterious clues start to appear and the girls are more curious than ever Both girls are spooked about the legend, but Amanda is even more scared about riding a horse. When danger strikes, Amanda and Shannon learn the truth. But will Shannon's beautiful pony, Christa, be able to convince Amanda that she can conquer her fears and save the day?

Genres: Horses, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1997

About the author

Lois K. Szymanski has written numerous books for young readers featuring horses and the children who love them. She lives on a small farm in Westminster, Maryland, with her husband and two daughters.

Reviews

[Pasta Bird · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, this book was not it. First of all, I feel like the horse was an afterthought, just an extra accessory to the story. She didn’t really have that big of a place in the story until the second to last chapter.
Native Americans seem to have been portrayed poorly in here. They were always called “Indians”, and were written to be a bit barbaric. They seemed to be the villains of the legend, which off-put me to say the least.
It also seemed blatantly obvious that Larry was setting everything up the whole time. There was one moment where I believed it could have been a ghost. And I only believed it because I thought childish logic might win. “He didn’t put the brooch in the ground, so he couldn’t have etched the names into the rock!” Like, what? Seriously? Where do you even get that logic from.
The accident scene made me cringe. Shannon was so mad at Larry that she started trotting down a snowy hill, which is NEVER a good idea. And she has Amanda riding double with her, who was very clear that she did NOT want to go faster than a walk. Shannon let her emotions totally take control of her, which is one of my biggest pet peeves with horses. If you are feeling extremely angry or upset, get off. It’s stupid to continue riding in that state, as that is when you’re bound to have a lapse in judgement and end up in the same predicament that Shannon and Amanda were in.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of course I picked up this book for my horse crazy daughter and wasn't sure what to think of it at first - I was worried that it might be too scary for her. She was intrigued though and wanted to keep reading. The first two chapters gave the impression that it might get scary but the book ended up being pretty tame. Not about horses so much as it was a mystery to solve and the girls rode on the horse to get to the spot to solve the mystery. If my daughter asks to read more in this series I will look into it for her but I don't think I'll intentionally seek them out for her.