Younger readers who dream of one day having a pony or a horse will adore the poems presented throughout this title. Each poem is beautifully illustrated with colored pencil drawings, all of which contain extra details that are not to be missed. Each poem focuses on a horse, ranging from a piebald to a bucking pony named Penny. Some poems rhyme while others are constructed using free verse, but each one holds a special message for those who love horses. Meister’s offerings will amuse all of your readers, whether they wish for a horse or not, simply because of the fun contained within the pages. Beth H. Green, School Library Media Specialist, Wappingers Junior High School, Wappinger Falls, New York

Recommended

– School Library Connection, March April 2019

A wide range of ponies and children, all adorable, appear together in a stable, outdoors in a paddock, in fields, on treks to town, and even in fantasy in this charmingly themed book of poems. Each scene features a jaunty poem—an assortment of rhymed and free verse offerings, and even some takeoffs on nursery rhymes like “Hickory Dickory Dock”—in which a child talks about his or her pony. Simple musings are intermixed with some surprises, as in “Kicking Kate,” which reveals that Kate doesn’t kick at all, and in “Princess,” which the pony itself narrates. Several poems are fantasies, including a boy’s dream about being a cowboy. The illustrations, done in watercolors and mixed media, carry the book with their charming pastel (and occasionally pastoral!) scenes and humorous details. The two-page spread in which a boy imagines himself a knight confronting a pot-bellied dragon is especially comic. The collection ends with a journey through rolling, quilt-like fields to home and sleep. — Connie Fletcher

– Booklist Online, Feb 15, 2019