The Perfect Pony

by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, Shelagh McNicholas (Illustrator)

Katie’s very first word was pony, and ever since, she has dreamed of having her own sleek, spirited, perfect pony. So when Mom says that it’s finally time to start looking for one, she finds it hard to be patient. As she and Mom visit barns, Katie looks at each pony and wonders, Is this the one? But the first is too nervous, and others too stubborn, too scary, too old. Then Katie meets a round, filthy little pony with a coat as shaggy as a bear. But there’s something special about him . . . No horse-lover will be able to resist this warm, genuine story with the ultimate happy ending.

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Childrens, Horses

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2007

About the author

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley's next book, The Night War, will be published April 9, 2024. She is the author of nineteen previous books, including the Newbery Honor winners Fighting Words and The War that Saved My Life. The sequel to the latter, The War I Finally Won, appeared on many state-award and best-books lists and was described as “stunning” by The Washington Post and “honest” and “daring” by The New York Times. She is also the acclaimed author of She Persisted: Rosalind Franklin. Kimberly and her husband have two grown children and live with their dogs, two highly opinionated mares, and a surplus of cats on a fifty-two-acre farm in Bristol, Tennessee. Visit her at kimberlybrubakerbradley.com.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice little twist on the "girl wants a pony" theme. The mother makes sure her daughter is familiar with the work of keeping a pony years before they start pony shopping. The girl's older brother is named Matthew, which made me a little sad, since my older brother is named Matthew, but he never cared about ponies or horses. If he did, he would've gotten one and then I could've, too.

Anyway, pony shopping turns out to be a lot harder than Our Protagonist thought. And the perfect pony might not quite match your original expectations. You read in the About the Author section that this story was based on a true one, and that the perfect pony was eventually named Shakespeare.

Shelagh McNichols is perhaps best known for illustrating the first Animal Ark books. She does a much better job here than in Animal Ark. She gives detailed and realistic drawings of the animals, but manages whimsical and expressive people. It makes for a good counterbalance.

Really nice book for horse and pony lovers of all ages. It's currently available, for now, at the Internet Archive.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baby Me would have absolutely ADORED this book. If time machine's existed, I would go back in time and hand a copy to myself. It would have been my absolute favorite book. Do you have a horse-crazed child? Give them the gift of happiness this year and buy this book for them.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was basically structured as a goldilocks story, which works well for children’s books. I liked how the mom and the daughter had their own way of saying the same thing when judging each pony. A good way to build vocabulary and specificity.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is every little girl's dream to find the perfect pony.

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This another great horse lover's story for children. This is my 5 year old son's second favorite book. Again, not to long and not too short.

[Katie Sicking · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story was about a young girl searching for the perfect pony. I liked it because I know I could have related to it as a child, and there are lots of little girls that love horses.

[Marc Lucke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully-illustrated, sweet story about patience, intuition and the need to look past surface qualities in order to see true value.

[Kacie Winfield]

A great book to show the reward of patience and responsibility. Could also be used for students with an interest in horses.

[Alyssa Padilla]

This is a very sweet book about a young girl searching for the perfect pony. She meets different ponies with her mom but keeps finding something wrong with the pony. She continues searching until he finds the one meant for her. This is a cute book that many young readers would enjoy.