A Pony in the Luggage

by Gunnel Linde

A Pony in the Luggage

Genres: Animals

137 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Gunnel Linde (born 14 October 1924 in Stockholm) is a Swedish writer who has written over forty children's books, among them Den vita stenen.

In 1971, she was one of the founders of BRIS ("Barnens rätt i samhället", in English Children's Rights in Society).

She has received the Swedish Nils Holgersson Plaque in 1965 (for the book Den vita stenen) and the Astrid Lindgren award in 1978.

Reviews

[Daisy May Johnson]

A Pony In The Luggage starts with Aunt Tina inviting her niece and nephew - Nicklas and Anneli - to Copenhagen on holidays. Aunt Tina is a very nice sort of Aunt but not very good at dealing with lively children. They visit Copenhagen Zoo and when Aunt Tina isn't looking, Nicklas and Anneli purchase a ticket for the grand zoo raffle. The first prize is a house, to be built near Copenhagen, and the fourth? Well, that's a pony. A miniature brown pony called Daniel Pompiliam of Klampenborg to be precise. And when the children win Danny, it's up to them to figure out how to get the pony back home to Stockholm without Aunt Tina discovering him...

This is adorable. It's so very adorable. It's a light, quick read in very accessible language (though you may have to elaborate on what sleeper carriages and trunks are). There's some very nice repeated motifs in it - Aunt Tina's letters are signed off with "That was what Aunt Tina thought on Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday" and so on. Moments like this help give such a solid rhythm to a book, so it's perfectly pitched for reading out loud because I'd defy the reader not to give a little "and we know better" wink at this point.

And it's funny! There's a point where Nicklas gallops Danny up and down the train carriage corridor when everyone is sleeping, but then can't turn him around when he reaches the end of the train. Like, I said, it's adorable. Aunt Tina's just on the right hand side of ditzy and the ending is particularly satisfying. A very lovely book indeed and perfect for the pony obsessed.

[Sfk]

Nicolas and Anna go to Copenhagen with there Aunt.
They live in a grand hotel, on the first day they go to the zoo.
But why go there another time? Why does Anna stay at the hotel instead of the tower, why
does she refuse lunch? Why did Nicolas not go to buy soveniers and stayed at the hotel instead? Why does Nicolas get off at the wrong stop?
Find out by reading the book!!!

[Rachel N]

I'm currently working my way through all the books that meant a lot to me as a child and this was one of them. Strangely, I could remember very little of the story but the cover was absolutely stuck in my mind, that little pony standing in the chest, so I was interested to see if rereading would bring it back to life. And it certainly did!

This is a lovely, funny little book. It centres around two Swedish children, Anneli and Niklas, taken by an aunt for a holiday in Copenhagen. On a trip to the zoo, they enter a lottery and win the little pony they are desperate for and the rest of the story revolves around them hiding the horse in the hotel and on the train home. It does a wonderful job of making it all seem to make sense in child logic (although as I get older my sympathies are very much now with the exhausted aunt) and there's a real warmth to the whole thing which would absolutely still appeal to children today.

[Derelict Space Sheep]

Two Swedish children win a pony while holidaying in Copenhagen, and try to smuggle it home. Linde captures not only the protagonists’ unassailable child logic but also an offhandedly droll understatedness of expression. Kennedy’s jittery illustrations are very much in the spirit.

[Lady]

a brilliant story. wonderfully translated creating a book that you can't put down children and adults with definitely love it. I found it so funny. I definitely recommend reading this book if you can find it.

[Enrico]

A little too much like a Copenhagen tourism advert at times, but very entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny in parts.

[Kathryn]

I read this once a long time ago. I am re-reading it for fun right now.
Basically, it's about a brother and sister who try to smuggle a pony across Europe. By way of hotels and trains. Without anyone finding out!
It's pretty funny! Only 136 pages.

[Petra Be]

It reminds me of a Czech kid story about twin brothers winning a horse in a scout lottery... they wanted a go-kart, but bad luck... anyway, this Swedish story is really funny, excellent for kids 8 years up.

[Jantzen Lee]

I loved this story when I was a boy!