Tilly's Pony Tails: Parkview Pickle, the Naughty Show Pony by Pippa Funnell
| Tilly's Pony Tails: Parkview Pickle, the Naughty Show Pony by Pippa Funnell | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Ninth in the Tilly's Pony Tails series by Olympic medallist Pippa Funnell is an engaging story about responsibility to animal. Recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 112 | Date: September 2010 |
| Publisher: Orion Children's Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1444000832 | |
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Here at Bookbag Towers we first met Tilly Redbrow in Neptune the Heroic Horse. Tilly's back home from her holiday in Cornwall and back at the Silver Shoe Riding Stables as often as she can be – which is before school, after school and every minute she can be at weekends and in the holidays. There's a lot of excitement at the stables when they find out that a new show pony is moving in. Parkview Pickle is a real beauty, although perhaps a little bit on the plump side and with a rather nervous rider and the ultimate pushy parent.
It's a lovely story from someone who knows her horses and ponies and whose background as an Olympic medallist can leave no one in any doubt of this. There's a quite exceptional level of detail about what owning and caring for a pony entails and if you have a child at the nagging for a pony stage then this book could be a very good investment. It's not just about trotting round the show ring all dressed up and being admired – it's about the nuts and bolts of ownership – the having to get up first thing in the morning to go and muck out before you go on to school and then doing it all again in the evening. It's about having to ensure that the animal is properly fed and isn't getting too much in the way of fattening treats. It's a gentle, non-preachy message that owning a pony requires an adult level of responsibility.
The tips for budding equestriennes are excellent, stressing as they do, personal and animal safety and responsibility and how to act around the yard and on the roads. From my time in a yard I think al lot of the parents should be made to read the tips as well!
The story is a good one, but I do feel the format is perhaps a little young for the target age group, as it's set out more like an early reader with regular illustrations. I'd love to see Pippa Funnell getting her teeth into a full length story for the eight plus age group. She has the knowledge. She has the story telling ability – and we could all enjoy the books for longer! Each book read as a stand-alone story although there are themes which continue from story to story. Be warned though – if your daughter loves ponies then you're probably going to be nagged into buying the whole set.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to Bookbag.
Horse-mad young girls will also enjoy Follyfoot by Monica Dickens, Nobody's Horse by Jane Smiley and Chancey by Gigi Amateau.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Tilly's Pony Tails: Parkview Pickle, the Naughty Show Pony by Pippa Funnell at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Tilly's Pony Tails: Parkview Pickle, the Naughty Show Pony by Pippa Funnell at Amazon.com.
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