Pony Party

Pony Scouts

by Catherine Hapka, Anne Kennedy (Illustrator)

The Pony Scouts are helping throw a pony party for a little girl's birthday. But when the birthday girl isn't having fun, it's up to Meg, Jill, and Annie to save the day. 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 Pony Party  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, Picture Books, Horses

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2013

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

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

~ borrowed from the Library

PONY PARTY is one of the books in the PONY SCOUT series. These little books are at the Second Grade Reading Level. This particular book is at the beginning 2nd Grade level and it has 584 words.

One of the reasons I like this series is that there are real stories. In this book the girls help Jill's mother bring two ponies to a party. Everyone assumes that the birthday girl will be delighted, but instead she's oddly standoffish. The Pony Scouts carry on and the rest of the kids have a blast. After everyone has had a ride, Meg goes over to Tina the birthday girl and tries to engage her, only to be rebuffed.

"Whatever," Meg muttered.
She couldn't believe that Tina
cared more about clean shoes
than riding a pony!

When Meg tells Annie and Jill what the girl said, she adds that she thinks Tina is snob who is "too good for us and our ponies!" Annie however realizes that something else might be bothering Tina and she uses a little psychology to solve the dilemma.

~
Besides PONIES!! there is a lot to like in this series. The girls are always supportive of one another, and the adults around them. The author notes that helping the other children with the ponies was exhausting, but that they didn't mind because everyone was having fun -- plus we know that they like to help Jill's mom.

Meg isn't very generous with her interpretation of Tina's behavior, but this only serves to show young readers that you can seriously misread a person's motivations and that it's best not to jump to conclusions.

A lot of depth for a second grade primer.

[Jurene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read for my beginning reader.

[stairs · Rating 5 out of 5]

val said griddyup instead of giddyup…

[Kimberly]

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.

[Linda Branich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is from the My Little Pony Series.

The ponies had a costume party at the castle. Pink Pie had a hard time choosing a costume, but her friends help her and she goes as a unicorn. There is one disaster after another at the party and her costume is ruined. She is completely discouraged and sad, but her friends come through for her once again.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 6 year-old read this and asked me to give it 5-stars.
This is an easy read for a first grade student.

[Annabelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book