Runaway Ponies!

Pony Scouts

by Catherine Hapka, Anne Vittur Kennedy

The Pony Scouts are having a sleepover at Jill’s house! They get to tend to the ponies day  and  night. But when one of the girls forgets to latch a stall, it’s the Scouts to the rescue! The Pony Scouts series is full of all the rich details young horse lovers devour, from pony-centric plots to a "Pony Pointers" vocabulary page at the end of each book. Go camping with the Pony Scouts! Author Catherine Hapka is a lifelong horse lover. She rides several times per week and keeps three horses on her small farm in Pennsylvania. If you're looking for horse books for girls 4-8, don't miss the Pony Scouts books. Pony Runaway Ponies!  is a Level Two I Can Read book, geared for kids who read on their own but still need a little help. Whether shared at home or in a classroom, the engaging stories, longer sentences, and language play of Level Two books are proven to help kids take their next steps toward reading success.

Genres: Childrens, Horses, Fiction, Kids

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Catherine (Cathy) Hapka has written more than one hundred books for children and adults, as a ghostwriter for series as well as original titles, including the Romantic Comedies Something Borrowed, The Twelve Date of Christmas, and Love on Cue. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this to Julianna tonight. She gives it a 5. She liked it because Meg said sorry and they rescued the ponies after Meg accidentally forgot to close Sparkle's barn door.

[R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with all these books, there's a very real lesson in the story. This time, Meg is so excited to look at the new foal that she forgets to close Sparkle's gate latch. Of course this means he gets out and promptly opens all the other gates for the rest of the ponies. Not all ponies are this smart, but it isn't unheard of (Merrylegs in Black Beauty did the same thing). The girls learn how important it is to pay attention, check the gates, and how to catch the ponies. Chasing after a horse will just make it run away from you. It can sometimes take a lot of patience just to catch one depending on how flighty they are at the time.

[Alyssa Galip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it!! It was so cute and when the girls let the ponies out and then tried to get them, they used good strategies.

[☼Bookish in Virginia☼ · Rating 4 out of 5]

~ borrowed from the Library

PONIES!!!

I saw this at the library and thought: WooHoo!, here's a book some girl out there will like. I mean, horses... ponies... that's good stuff.

--> Not that boys don't like horses but this book seems a little biased in that all of the Pony Scouts are girls. { Yes, they call themselves the Pony Scouts. No laughing. }

The story -- and there is one in this book that is at the early 2nd Grade Reading level-- is about Meg meeting other friends at the Pony Farm. Jill's mom shows them around the barn but just as Meg forgot to pack her toothpaste because she was so excited, the girls forget to latch Sparkle's stall door. Sparkle being a spunky pony releases the rest and it's ponies every which way.

Sample text from one page:

Jill's mom showed the girls
how to catch the ponies.
"Walk up to them
slowly and calmly," she said.
Meg led Sparkle, Jill led Apples,
and Annie led Splash.

[The text is in a large font.]


THOUGHTS
This book is at the early 2nd Grade reading level. I think it will appeal to girls who like animals and mild adventure. I like that there's an actual story here with a beginning, middle, and end.

If there's a 'moral' to this story I suppose it's that you need to be careful and responsible.

Teachers should note that there is both Accelerated Reading and Lexile level information available. This book is also Common Core Aligned.

[Christina Leone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hapka, Catherine (2012). Illustrated by Anne Kennedy. This is a level 2 (I can read) read-aloud book for Primary readers (K-3) which addresses the concept of responsibility. A little girl, Meg, is excited to go spend the night at her friend Jill's house. Particularly because Jill lives on a pony farm. "Did you pack your pajamas and your toothbrush?" Meg gasped. "Oh no, I forgot!" She cried." Meg has a tendency to be forgetful which creates some drama when she gets to Jill's pony farm and forgets to lock up one of the ponies in it's stall. Kennedy's illustrations captivate young readers attention as the ponies escape their pens and run about on the farm. Throughout the story Hapka touches upon the concept of being forgetful and the various consequences that can occur as a result of not being responsible. "But it was too late. All the ponies trotted out of the barn!" This story is appealing to young readers as Hapka creates suspense and exposes the consequences of Meg's forgetfulness while visiting a pony farm. All the while, Kennedy's illustrations reinforce the text in a fun and adventurous way. (Book selection taken from Storyplace.org)

[Rochelle Sondae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Level 2 Reading with Help

Because our store is named "The Wooden Horse" some customers get really upset if we don't live up to their expectation of being the "go to" place for all things horse related. Thus I find myself buying horse books whenever appropriate. This one actually does discuss good horse care in the simplest of terms while having a sense of adventure to it. I'm not quite sure why Meg had to go stay with a friend while the rest of her family got to go visit relatives. I guess it was as an excuse to get her to stay over at a friend's house without it being about a sleepover. Even though the tag line on the back advertises the sleepover and not "Meg's Parent's and baby brother are going to visit relatives. That means Meg got to spend the whole weekend..." I'll have to read more of the Pony Scouts books to see if there is a deeper meaning there...

[Rosa Cline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the books from the "Pony Scouts" series. This is our first one to read; so you don't have to read these in any type of order. This reminds me of an easier to read story of the series for older children. When your child out grows this series step up to Pony Pals a chapter book about a group of girls and their ponies. In this one one of the girls learns the importance of listening to adults and caring for animals. She forgets to latch the pony's gate and he gets out letting some of the other ponies out too. So the girls have to go and track them down and know to go get adult help too. Great beginning series for children who love horses-ponies.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My horse-crazy daughter loves this series if books. We check them out from the library over and over and over! She can't read yet, and these are rated as level 2 reading, but she loves me to read them. All of these pony scout books have 'pony pointers' at the end of the story to help with horse-related words or phrases that are used (and explained) within the stories, so it is a neat/easy/natural way to read fun horse story, feed the horse-craze in your little one (if yours is like mine), all the while creating a desire to read and learn more.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 3 out of 5]

These books are just perfect for my Kindergartener to read out loud to me. Of course she is getting a little pony crazy herself. :)

[Maddypictures · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ponies! So adorable - even when they try to run away.

[Alina Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't like this book as a kindergarten kid

[Andreea Souca]

We