Season/Ponies

I will give this book to my oldest granddaughter this year. I bought a used copy for her when she was born and have been saving it. This was the first magical book I ever read. Not magical in the sense of having to do with magic. Magical in that it wove a spell for me, created another world that was so wonderful that I still remember the feeling, well over 50 years later. I read it a second time while in college, for a Children's Literature paper, and though it was still a lovely story, it was no longer magical. I had grown up... and away from it's "magicalness." I would like my granddaughter to be able to feel what it is like to read a magical book. They only come along, at most, a few times in one's lifetime. And as I learned, their magic may be ephemeral

I wish this book was still in print! It left a lasting impression on me,it litterally kept me company!

Lonely Pamela lives on Oak Farm with her two aunts because her father is always traveling for his work. After her father breaks yet another promise to take her away, he gives her an amulet that was passed down from her grandmother. Soon after, Pamela meets Ponyboy, a wild boy who lives in the woods with a herd of dainty pastel ponies. They spend wonderful summer days practicing circus tricks on the ponies. When Ponyboy goes into the sinister swamp to rescue the smallest pony, Pamela is forced to face her worst fears and things are never the same for her at Oak Farm. I first read this as a child and the image of beautiful blue, pink, gray and gold ponies prancing across the meadow has never left me. Truly magical.

I have never forgotten this book since I read it as a child. The multicolored ponies and the wooded farm filled my imagination for years. What a wonderful book.

As a child, I read and reread the Season of Ponies, then tried to entice my friends to read it. It's hard to describe the author's ability to so subtly weave the magic, and the belief in that magic, into the thin novel, illustrated with just pen and ink. But surprisingly enough, the colors are what I remember most, the colors the story evokes with the hope of a beautiful magic. Now I have a daughter, and with some effort I tracked down a copy and read it to her. And again, after all these years, I was as affected by the magic of the beautiful cloud ponies as she was. The writing and the story are wonderfully rich and riveting.

This is such a magical novel. I hadn't read it since I was a kid, so I remembered nothing. However, once I started reading, I found I could not put it down. It's a rather simple story, with many faerie tale elements, but the style and the depth of the characters make it unique. It's about a lonely girl named Pamela who lives at Oak Farm House with her two aunts. When her father has to leave for awhile, he gives her a necklace which he says might possibly have magical powers. Through this amulet she meets a boy, whom she simply calls Ponyboy, and he calls her Girl. Names to them do not need to matter. Ponyboy is called just that because of the herd of ponies that follow him. Like Dickon from "The Secret Garden," Ponyboy is an animal charmer and has a way with people. The horses are magical as well, and with them, the two children have an incredible summer, doing many adventurous things, which most people can only dream of.