Plot: It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Mr. Rogers and the birds are singing, the sky is blue, the grass is green... Meanwhile, Lightning is in terrible pain.
Oh no! It appears Lightning has colic! And I don't mean to make a mockery of this illness, because it's serious business and I've known horses to die of this. But Lightning doesn't die, because the PONY PALS ARE THERE TO SAVE HER! Well, them and Mr. Crandall, a licensed veterinarian.
Pam is all emoed out, because she thinks she might be responsibile for Lightning's illness, and her best friends are pressuring her to be in a horse show, and she just HAAAATES horse shows. Whatever, she's only been in one.
So Lightning gets all better...but the next day, she's sick AGAIN!!! Pam feels worse than ever, but she bounces right back when it's decided that they'll stay up all night to see if Lightning does anything suspicious.
Around 6 AM, A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER APPEARS WITH A BAG OF APPLES! *gasp* SHE WAS THE ONE FEEDING LIGHTNING AND MAKING HER SICK!
Pam is really angry, and the Pony Pals jump the mysterious stranger while she's out on her bike and force her to listen to them. They tell her that overfeeding horses kills and that she's dumb. The girl (Diane, who is never mentioned again) feels terrible, apologizes, and promises to never feed Lightning again.
The last 30 pages are about Lulu and Anna's emotional manipulation. They push and push and push, but very subtlely, until finally Pam gives in and enters the horse show. Once there, she realizes *gasp* SHE LOVES HORSE SHOWS! She just THOUGHT she didn't like them because she had CHICKEN POX! OF COURSE! So the Pony Pals have a jolly good time and end up in the paper. The End.
More notes:
Pam has some weird hair going on in this book. First she has poufy bangs, then she doesn't, then she does, then she doesn't.... No afro puff in sight. It's MAGIC, I tell you. But the first picture shows her with some serious bangs, and the next, taking place on the same day, shows her without. Say whaaaat?
All of a sudden, it's spring vacation. Quoi?? Didn't school just start? And yet the Pony Pals manage to complete 5th grade at least 10 times in this entire series. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT???
"Come on. Take me home. You know we belong together." Isn't that a Justin Timberlake song?
Uh oh. Mrs. Crandall wants Pam to be in horse shows. But Pam is rebelling.
"Something's wrong with Lightning!" She's pawing the ground and kicking. Maybe she's in a bad mood?
Also, what kind of name is Lightning? For a girl horse with an upside down heart on her forehead. There's a horse in the game "Herd Your Horses" that has the same name and basically looks just like her.
Oh dear, Lightning is kicking her own stomach. So something is actually wrong.
Pam starts telling Lulu random horse knowledge like she doesn't know. What? Does she think she's better than Lulu or something? If I were Lulu, I'd kill her.
Next picture: NO BANGS.
Aaaargh, in every book there's a little blurb on the other two Pony Pals and how special they are. Anna's and Lulu's are always the same. And they mention Lulu's dead mother like 800 times.
The bangs are back! Lulu got a nose job, or something. And Anna has some weird 80's hair going on.
Anna's mom is FAMOUS for her brownies. Yeah...right.
Anna wants to compete in the Short Stirrup Division. Maybe because she's short?
Pam uses the phrase "pretty pony"!!!!
Aaargh, what is up with Anna and Rema? I hate that she turns out to be right.
Pam is shocked that Anna would want to do something that she wouldn't want to do. Uh...yeah?
Pam feels seperated from her friends because SHE HATES HORSE SHOWS. Oh, suck it up and stop being so melodramatic.
Interesting picture: Pam looks like a boy and Lulu looks just like my friend Joanne.
Oh my goodness, those BANGS!
Yay, a barn sleepover where they watch to make sure Lightning doesn't kill herself! How...fun.
Whatever. I hate "Black Beauty".
Pam is convinced Diane is feeding her pony POISONED APPLES. Eh, what? Is that some lame Snow White reference?
IT IS A SNOW WHITE REFERENCE!
Pam has a painful first show flashback. And the bangs have returned.
The Pony Pals try to trick Diane into stopping by holding up a sign that says, "YOU WON A BIG PRIZE." Sure, girls, that'll work. You know, that's probably how young children get kidnapped.
Pam makes signs that say, "You Hurt My Pony," and, "I'll Have You Arrested If You Don't Stop Feeding My Pony," but the others think those are too angry. Along with lame. But they think Anna's dead pony surrounded by apples is a suitable idea.
I swear, the author probably kept thinking Pam was a boy when he drew these pictures.
I think Lulu just called Anna dumb.
Oh, that'll work. "STOP. MUST TALK TO YOU. VERY IMPORTANT." They should've added, "OR WE'LL KILL YOU."
The Pony Pals resort to brute force. *shakes head* I would never do a thing like that...maybe...not really...eh, sure.
Diane is supposed to be in high school or junior high and she looks at least 12.
"It wasn't your fault. It's not like the wicked queen in Snow White. You didn't know any better. And the apples weren't poisoned. We checked." Real cool, Anna.
Ms. Wiggins is still mega creepy. She's now making clothes for the Pony Pals. Oooh.
The Pony Pals would make great detectives. Not.
Pam looks like Theo on "The Cosby Show".
Their decorations sound...pretty cool, actually. I'm jealous.
"You don't understand. NO ONE UNDERSTANDS." We know, Pam. We know.
"I don't care what my mother thinks. I'm sick of everybody nagging me about horse shows and about being the teacher's daughter." You tell 'em, Pam.
5 seconds after that outburst, SHE GIVES IN!! Wimp. I BELIEVED IN YOU.
Why do they bug Anna about having crappy handwriting? It's really nice. Like calligraphy.
A 30 mile bike ride? :O That's insane.
I'm trying to understand this sentence. "The ponies and horses in this competition are so beautifully turned out that we're going to have a parade." Turned out? What does that mean? Like in a pasture? Why couldn't he say, "Because of the wonderful turnout..."
Pam looks like a boy in the last picture, and Anna looks like Heidi Klum. And Lulu still looks like Joanne.
AAAAAH, so lame!!! "I need to know who you girls are, for the caption under the picture." "We're the Pony Pals!!" Lameness. Lame pants.
I would read some more, but I've got to practice piano. For band class. Never mind. I'll be reading #4 tomorrow. I remember not liking that one, either. Heck, did I like ANY of the Pony Pals? I remember #20 being good, and Super Special #2, and #10 was all right... Hm, I don't know. I'll see y'all later.
1 comment:
Lol, cute blog. I started reading a couple of the Pony Pals entries, but this one I just had to comment on since you mentioned the oddity of one of the sentences. When the announcer at the show says the horses and ponies are so wonderfully "turned out", he's not talking about the number of competitors. "Turned out" is an obscure bit of terminology which refers to the horse and handler(or rider, if it's an under saddle class) being prepared to compete. "Well turned out" would obviously mean that the pony is clean, neatly braided if necessary, and wearing appropriate tack which is also clean and not worn or ratty looking. The rider or handler is appropriately dressed, hair done up, and like their pony looks as pristine as possible. Poorly turned out would be the opposite, anyone who enters the ring looking like a slob, or like they barely bothered to groom their pony. I'm a little surprised to see this term in a kids book. It's one that's seen more in 19th and earlier 20th century literature, but today has kind of fallen out of use. Okay, gonna stop rambling now. :)
Post a Comment