The Pony Problem

by Barbara Holland

A young girl wins a pony in a contest and throws her entire suburban neighborhood into an uproar.

Genres: Fiction, Animals, Middle Grade, Childrens, Horses

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Barbara Murray Holland was an American author who wrote in defense of such modern-day vices as cursing, drinking, eating fatty food and smoking cigarettes, as well as a memoir of her time spent growing up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the greatest books EVER. If you happen to be a young girl who dreams of a pony of your own, as I was when I first read it. (I believe I have read it three times at least, and I am now looking for my own copy.) This is the story of Jean, who lives in a suburb where all the houses look exactly alike, and most of the families do too. But Jean's family is different: her brother is a certified genius, her father has passed away, and it is her mother who commutes to the city every day with her friends' dads. And when Jean talks about getting a pony, she means it. She enters a pony naming contest, and wins! And (this is where it gets really good) one day a truck pulls up to her house, and they unload a beautiful brown and white pony. And this is why it's every girl's fantasy: they don't ask if she has a place to keep it, they just leave it. And so Jean keeps Hopscotch in her front yard, in a pen made out of clothesline. She buys a used bridle, and rides her pony bareback around the neighborhood. Her mother has no problem with this! I wanted to be Jean soooo badly! But it is hard to keep a pony in your front yard, and in the end Jean has to make other arrangements, which work out very satisfactorially indeed!

April 2020: Read this aloud to the kids, after getting my own copy at Powells' in Portland. They loved it too!

[Kerith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perennial favorite from my childhood, The Pony Problem is not just your basic horse story. This is a beautifully written but bittersweet story about a young spirited girl who wins a pony in a contest. The Problem: she lives in a Levittown-style suburbia, cookie-cutter houses and NIMBY neighbors. The story takes place in the 70s or so, Jean's widowed mother is the only woman in the neighborhood who works and her older brother is a math genius. Their neighbors already look at them askance, but once Jean wins the pony it is outright war. And so begins the story, for as Jean would say, if you win a pony in a contest you get to keep it. But how, in a place like Dogwood Estates, where all the streets are named after flowers? While trying to find a place to safely keep her pony, Jean stumbles onto an almost forgotten piece of farmland, but it is threatened by a prospective shopping center and rising property taxes. Jean must solve her pony problem in a most unexpected and satisfying way.
Jean Monroe is such an imaginative and enterprising girl, with copious amounts of faith and stubbornness. She is a wonderful example of a "strong girl character" before that even became a phrase. I was amused to re-read this now, and discover that I am now the age of Jean's mother - which added no end of enjoyment. I am definitely hanging on to my bedraggled copy for my daughter.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

When dreams come true it can really screw up your life. This is (just one) of the messages in Barbara Holland's The Pony Problem but do not despair -- it's a very hopeful book about someone stuck in a very bad situation.

Holland effectively describes the horror of urban sprawl in the 1970s. And the horror of not being able to be the person you want to be (which has not ended with the 1970s.) One person our heroine butts up against is described succinctly as liking plastic horses more than real ones. These are the types of evil incarnate that our heroine and her poor pony are up against.



I did try to read this book soon after it was first published but put it down when things started looking bad. It was too much like my own life (sans pony.) Now that I'm in my 40s I was finally able to finish the book and have proudly added a hardback copy to my little book collection.

The pony on the cover does not seem to be the same color as the pony described. She seemed more like a silver dapple than a chestnut with a white mane and tail.

[Emily Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is definitely one of my favourite books from childhood. Very well written, a great plot, well executed and realistic characters. Perhaps winning a pony in a contest isn't the most likely of circumstances but the story is lovely. I wish all pony books were this good.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

TW: animal abuse (dog kicked, not called out), imagined scenarios of animal dying, mentions of horse slaughter, racist neighbor comparing 'unsightly' home to 'tobacco road'

A forgotten childhood favourite found in a box of old donated books. I was afraid it might have aged poorly, though the references there are are very much not excusable. Overall the message is still solid and one I needed right now. Being different is OK, we don't have to be cookie cutters and all live the same way with the same things. Main character had very similar traits to my autistic/ADHD self so I loved seeing that and knowing myself better after all these years.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow average rating a 2; I guess I'm in the minority. Well, I love this book because it's about a person who just would not give up, no matter what. She didn't fit in, she had strange ideas, she lived in kind of a fantasy land, but she somehow made her life work. Everyone I've ever loaned this book to has loved it.

[James Landrith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a child. It was a book I picked up at a Scholastic book fair. I remember loving the story as a child and reading it almost in one sitting and then wanting a second book with the same characters. Aside from being a great story, it taught the young reader about endurance and problem-solving in the face of adult indifference and opposition.

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jean Monroe is the heroine we all wanted to be at that age - completely idealistic and able to will her wishes into existence. The Pony Problem is a wonderful horse-filled fantasy of a young girl who just wants what she wants. And yet, Jean is likable, you can imagine just why she is bored of a normal life and why she just absolutely positively has to have a pony of her own. Jean's adventure bounces along to the most unexpected conclusion, and we bounce along with her as she struggles to solve her pony problem.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean's friend says, "You know what's the trouble with you, Jean? The trouble with you is, you think you can do everything in the world." Sounds like Jean is the right kind of person to me!