Unkept promises abound, or Pony Pals Super Special #4: The Fourth Pony Pal

So it's the FOURTH Super Special and it's about the FOURTH Pony Pal. Sorry. Not really funny.



Plot: Pam wants to take part in a jumping clinic in Virginia, so she and her Pony Pals go on a road trip!!! w00t!!!
When they get to the clinic, Mrs. Foster (the person in charge) is a total snob, and all the other girls are wankers. Shelly, Mrs. Foster's daughter, is just as mean as everyone else, but seems withdrawn and sad a lot of the time.
The meddling Pony Pals get to the bottom of it: Shelly misses her pony Midnight Ride, but is angry at her mother and best friend Brooke because they'd been advising her to dump Midnight Ride before he DIED of COLIC.
Ooooh, that burns.
The Pony Pals comfort Shelly, convince her to cry it out, and help her reconnect with her mother.
Then they go home.

More notes:
Lulu casually mentions homework. It seems like the Pony Pals NEVER GO TO SCHOOL.

Summer vacation again???

Wait...the clinic is in Virginia. Isn't that where Lulu's godsister or whatever Alicia lives?? And they're not going to go visit? I guess Alicia doesn't exist anymore.

They get a letter from Eleanor Morgan, the pro stadium jumper from #21. She writes like a 10-year-old.

Pam's dad is all, "Oh no, a week without Pam, what will I do?"
Shut up, Robert. You should be jumping for joy.
At least I think his name is Robert. Didn't he say his name was Robert that one time?

Anna feels like she's missing something important....
Underwear? No, not underwear.
Shoes? No, of course not.
Pads? Heck no, why would she need that?
Oh duh - ART SUPPLIES!

Grandmother Sanders gives them a beauty kit to take with them. Read: So you 3 won't look like slobs at the jumping clinic.

They live in Conneticutt (I know I spelled that wrong), right? It takes them 4 HOURS to get to Virginia. I don't think so. Mapquest says 9.

They act like people make a big deal about whether you have a horse or a pony. No, Pam, I don't think anyone cares.

Mrs. Foster is wonderfully polite ...until Pam's mom leaves.

Mrs. Foster: You shouldn't have disappeared like that. All your friends are upstairs.
Shelly: They're not my friends. They're your students.
Nice, a character with backbone!

Anna is such a freak!
"When we stay over at Pam's we sleep in the barn. We call ourselves the Pony Pals and love to trail ride."
And you wonder why you don't make friends easily....

Pam: Hi. I'm Pam Crandal. The tall one.
Um, the black one....

They have a palomino pony...named GOLDIE.
Proving that no one has any originality.

Heh. Mrs. Foster splits them up.

Pam is kind of stupid.
Shelly: Tell Brooke that my mother wants to speak with her.
Pam: *turns to Brooke* Shelly said-
Brooke: No duh, I'm not deaf.

Brooke and Shelly are fighting. Pam is sharing a room with them. Should be fun. XP

"Anna didn't mention the lucky upside-down heart marking on Lightning's forehead. She had a feeling Shelly wouldn't care."
I don't care either, Anna.

Sweet. Shelly is antisocial and feisty. We have a lot in common, Shelly!

Okay, I know these girls like horses, but there are OTHER horse books and movies that DON'T involve Black Beauty.

Everyone likes to talk about themselves, Pam. What's wrong with you?

Brooke is Regina from "Mean Girls".

Shelly seems upset. Pam wonders if Shelly lost a big competition.
Or maybe someone died, perhaps?

Bells say ding-dong, ding-dong. What kind of bell says dong-dong, dong-dong?

Shelly tells Brooke where to stuff it when Brooke mistakenly makes fun of the Pony Pals. Yeaaah!

Mrs. Foster: Quiet, you two. Watch carefully. You can learn a lot just by observing.
Anna: I can learn how to be bored.
Lol.

The Pony Pals want to know what Shelly's problem is and why she's so sad and angry.
I want to know why it's any of their business.

Anna and Snow White escape. In the process of looking for them, Pam sets off the burglar alarm. Hahaha, it wakes EVERYONE up.

I notice no one in this series ever has short hair or glasses. If they're a girl, anyway. For boys, that's true, too...except for the short hair part.

They start talking about ponies and Shelly runs away crying.
RED FLAG!

Her pony's name was Midnight Ride. -_- Guess what color he was?

"Shelly is a lot angry at her mother. We all wonder why."
Not only is that HORRIBLE grammar, but it should seem pretty obvious why Shelly hates her mom; the woman's a PSYCHO.

Anna has come a long way. Instead of instantly labeling people "snobs", she gives Shelly another chance.

Brooke: More Pony Pal secrets?
Lulu: Yes, and they're all about you, Brooke.
Pwned!!

To make friends with Shelly, they write her a letter????
But you guys are staying in the same house!!

Shelly doesn't want to play therapist with the Pony Pals, but she'd rather hang out with them than watch...*drumroll*..."Black Beauty"!
What is their obsession with this movie, as well as spaghetti, brownies, and grilled cheese sandwiches?

Shelly probably shouldn't watch a movie about a black horse. Might set her off again. Whatever.

"I was the only one who cried when Midnight Ride died."
Awwwwww....

Okay, lame. When Shelly tells them she has no interest in competing, Lulu and Anna understand.
But when Pam, in the beginning of the series, told them she HATED competing and had no interest in doing so, they EMOTIONALLY BLACKMAILED her into competing.
These guys SUCK.

Mrs. Foster has a horse named Royal Star.
What a prissy name.

Shelly writes a book about Midnight Ride and gives it to her mom.

Shelly got Midnight Ride when she was 6, and he died of colic when she was 10.
That really sucks.

Shelly: I don't want to live here anymore. I'm going to run away.
Anna: You can come to Wiggins with us if you want, but don't run away.
Whaaat? If you take her to Wiggins with you, you'll be HELPING her run away. SO CONFUSED.

Mrs. Foster promises to be less of a stiff.

Shelly: Is this what the Pony Pals do all the time?
Anna: Not ALL the time. But we trail ride a lot.
They also as participate in parades, man face-painting booths, catch hunters in the act, rescue hamsters, herd sheep, train ponies, find little girls and lost ponies, save ponies, tutor dyslexic girls, heal sick ponies, bargain with sellers, comfort dying ponies, tame wild ponies, join the circus, brave blizzards, give people makeovers, babysit, give blind ponies sight, manipulate and persuade, put out fires, adopt stray cats, take care of elderly ponies, help girls run away, build secret clubhouses, compete in horse shows, barrel race, watch bears, act in movies, find dogs, help birth foals, rescue abused animals, go back in time, communicate with animals, and help the environment.

Shelly's new friends Linda and Mary Ellen have ponies, too!
One is an Appaloosa named Smoothie, for his smooth gait (aaaaagh!).
Now they're all best friends and call themselves the Pony Pals, too.
Doesn't this happen in ALL Pony Pal books? They meet a new girl, make friends with her, convert her to their religion, and then send her home, where she creates her own three person Pony Cult. Creepy.

Only 3 Pony Pals books left: #37, #38, and Super Special #6.
Then it's all over.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Let's name all of our horses after Hallmark card values, or Horseshoe Trilogies #1: Keeping Faith

I'm sure that title was supposed to be "clever", seeing as it had a double meaning and all.
I would much rather be playing Sims (although I do have to do homework), but I'm sort of behind schedule-ish. Like I even have a schedule. Oh well, tomorrow I'll post a Pony Pals. But this book was so ridiculously boring.



Plot: Josie Grace lives with her mommy and daddy in a little house in England, where they have stables that Mary Grace (her mother) uses to teach in. They also have three beautiful horses; Faith, Hope, and Charity (gag).
But all that is changing.
When they first moved into their house, they didn't have much money, because teachers and riding instructors don't get paid very much, but the little old lady who owned the house let them rent it and the stables for very little money. Unfortunately, she just died, and now her mean old nephew is taking over the property and throwing the Graces out. Harsh. Since they probably won't be able to find [cheap] accomodations for their horses, the Graces will have to sell them, starting with Faith.
Josie is beside herself. Faith has been around even she was born!
Bla bla bla, they meet a few potential buyers, but they either don't know how to take care of a horse or they want to ride her too hard; Faith is old and would rather be a pet or companion than a show jumper. Finally, it's between two families: the Hyde-Whites, a very rich family that has many horses; or the Randalls, a very boring family that happens to be moving to Scotland. Josie doesn't know which is worse: if Faith goes to the Hyde-Whites, she will be adequately cared for but not loved; if she goes to the Randalls, she has to move to Scotland!
Enter Anna Marshall. Anna is Josie's bubbly loud-mouthed best friend, also a horse freak. When Josie tells her about the potential buyers, Anna freaks out; she knows Harriet Hyde-White and the girl is a snob!!! That girl doesn't deserve a horse! She convinces Josie to think so, too, and the two concoct a plan to keep the Hyde-Whites away forever.
The facts are these: Anna met Harriet at a gymkhana event a million years ago and Harriet called Anna's horse Hope (another one of Josie's beloved equines) ugly. Forget that it's been several years since the incident. Forget the fact that Josie herself admitted that Hope wasn't the best-looking animal in the world. No, Harriet was and is a snob, and that's all that matters.
When Harriet and her father come to look at Faith, Anna tells Harriet that Faith bites people and that's why she's being sold. Harriet flips out and tells her father, who in turn gets pretty POed and cusses out Mary Grace, then hops in his Porsche and leaves. Mary Grace is all, "Wth????" Then Ben, Anna's twin brother, comes in with a nasty bite mark on his arm. Turns out it's just makeup he was planning to use to scare Harriet, but there turned out to be no need.
So Mary Grace bans the Marshall twins from their house.
Then the Randalls call and say that they're not moving to Scotland, so they can't buy Faith. Whaaat?? That makes no sense. Now there are no buyers for Faith.
Enter Jill Atterbury. Jill was in a horrible car accident that badly injured her legs. She'd had a horse before the accident, but her parents sold it right after; I forget why, but I think it had something to do with either hospital bills or the doctor saying something like, "She shall never ride again."
Mary Grace and Josie visit the Atterburys, who are very nice people. Jill is funny, easy to talk to, and loves horses. Even I liked her, which is saying something. She meets Faith and falls in love, so Josie gives her "permission" to buy Faith. :P Like it was even your decision. And Jill gives Josie her "permission" to visit Faith. Ha. Now everyone's happy. Yay.
Too bad they'll have to sell Hope in the next book. Just saying.

More notes:
Anna and Josie met when Anna was the new girl in school and Josie had to cart her around the school. Ugh, don't you hate that? I've had to do both and I'm not very good at either. Just saying.

Josie is really mean about bad riders. "You're really getting the hang of the rising trot." "It's about time...."

Wait a minute. They make it sound like Mrs. Wetherall's nephew is such a horrible person, but it's HIS property and he has the right to do what he's doing. Besides, it seems fair. He could've upped the rent.

Ha. Teachers don't get squat. Never become a teacher.

:O Mary Grace tells the story of how she first found Faith, and she convinces Faith's owner that her son is too fat to ride!!! That's so mean!!!!

And she blows ALL her savings on Faith. Yeah, she and her husband are newlyweds and he's a TEACHER, so they don't have that much money to BEGIN with. Nice going, stupid.

Oh, and the husband's cool with it.

Josie brags that she's never had her dad as a teacher. Shut up, I have. XP

Here it is, on page 18, in black and white:
Even Josie had to admit that Hope was not the most beautiful horse in the world. She had a long, straight face with rather small eyes, and an especially broad back.

Oh. No. They're eating SPAGHETTI for dinner.

Mr. Grace jokes about selling his daughter. That is so not funny. Like, seriously, people do that.

Wth, there's a character named Emma who sounds just like me when she rides. "Can't we canter now? This is boring!"

Josie is all mad that Faith might move to Scotland because "she'll never see her again". Yeah, that's generally what happens when you sell an animal.

Mr. Hyde-White might not be a nice guy, but he knows his stuff.

AAAARGH! Just because people don't talk to other people doesn't mean they're stuck up! SHE'S JUST SHY!!

Shut up, Anna; where Faith goes is not your decision.

Okay, Anna AND Josie have both called Hope ugly. This is the "really mean thing" Harriet said to Anna:
"It'll take more than a braided mane to make the creature you're on look halfway decent."
I can see how that's kind of mean, but if they've admitted she's ugly, why is it a big deal? I'm probably going to get beaten up for this.

Isobel really bugs me. I don't know why, but she REALLY does.

Anna thinks out loud, so she's talking about Josie probably never seeing Faith again, and Josie's all, "THANKS FOR RUINING MY DAY!!!" Geez, PMS?

I LOVE PALOMINOS!

Ha. "She has a marvelous seat." Not as marvelous as my seat. I'm rather proud of it.

Yeah, so they're "cold" and impersonal people. But they're also rich and local, and Faith will be treated well. Suck it up, Josie. You need the money anyway.

Mary Grace is way cool. She tells Josie to suck it up, too.

They have to pay for the school bus???

"Come on, it's the first time we've been late this week."
"Well done! It's only Tuesday!"

Josie, you're a pushover.

You are, too, Ben.

AAARGH, this is the third time someone has used the word "immaculate" in conversation!!! WHO EVEN SAYS IMMACULATE!!!?? NOT 12-YEAR-OLD GIRLS!!! Which reminds me of gross Bratz boy....

:O I would be soooo mad if my parents sold my horse. Even if I couldn't ever ride again, I'd still keep him as a pet/companion/BFF/friend.

Aaargh, they make Harriet sound like such a snob. They also make it sound like me. >:P

Ha, Ben and Anna get banished. Losers.

I think Mary Grace is drunk. She starts babbling about Mr. Hyde-white and how she wants to "teach that rascal a lesson".

Anna: I never thought Harriet would make such a fuss!
Now you're blaming her?? Yeah, people tend to get mad when it turns out they're being conned.

WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE??? Josie tells Anna about Jill, who can't ride, wanting a horse.
Anna: What, is she crazy or something?
HELLO! SHE CAN KEEP IT AS A FREAKING PET! RIDING ISN'T THE ONLY THING TO DO WITH HORSES!

Jill isn't weird about her disability, and she's an optimist. She's also funny. I like her already.

SHE HAS POSTERS OF HORSES ALL OVER HER WALLS. Jealous.

Way to be sensitive, Josie.
Jill: That's my favorite [poster]. I lie in bed sometimes looking and it and imagining I'm on his back, riding off into the sunset.
Josie: Doesn't that make you feel worse?

AAAGH, MIDNIGHT: another super obvious horse name.

I don't think I've ever described anyone or anything as a big soppy marshmallow.

NO, JILL, NO! Oh well. She lets Josie come visit Faith whenever.

Ugh, Mary Grace justifies Anna's behavior. "You saved me from selling Faith to the Hyde-Whites."

Ugh, and it ends with Josie sobbing and saying, "Perfect." SHUT UP.

That was sooo boring. Tomorrow I'll post another Pony Pal, followed by the second Avalon, which is about Kara, so it should be interesting.

EPIDEMIC, or Pony Pals #3: A Pony In Trouble

I really hated this one. It was soooooo boring. Even more so than the first two. But my library never had it when I lived in Japan, and I didn't know how to place holds at my new US library, so I never read this until one day it popped up in the fiction section. Weeee....



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.