A Pony to Remember (Charming Ponies) - Softcover

Szymanski, Lois K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061288705 ISBN 13: 9780061288708

Verlag: HarperFestival, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Jenny's world is crashing down around her. Her family has to move away from their farm, and that means saying good-bye to her horse, Magic, and all the other animals Jenny cares for and loves. Jenny will have to live in an apartment in town, make all new friends, and go to a new school. She is sure she will never be happy again. But that's because Jenny doesn't know what it's like to live in a different place . . . and she's in for a lot of very nice surprises.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Lois Szymanski has written two other books for young people, including A New Kind Of Magic and Patches, which is also set on Chincoteague Island. She lives on a small farm in Westminster, Maryland, with her husband and two daughters.

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Charming Ponies: A Pony to Remember

By Lois Szymanski

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Copyright © 2007 Lois Szymanski
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780061288708

Chapter One

Jenny rubbed Magic's neck, and the black and white spotted pony moved closer, his head dropping as she scratched, until his nose was almost touching the ground.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" she asked him. "Come on, boy. I can't scratch you all night. Mom's probably already wondering what's taking me so long."

She rattled the can of oats, and Magic picked up his step and followed her into the barn. She dumped the grain into his feed box and stood back as his nose made a dive. Magic would do anything for food. Jenny should know. She'd trained him to stand on a stool and "shake hands" when he was a four-month-old colt! All it took was a little grain and a lot of practice. Over and over she stood him on the stool, rewarding him with oats. It didn't take long for him to catch on. The way to Magic's heart was straight through his stomach!

Jenny closed the stall door tightly behind her and latched it carefully. Then she slipped between the fence rails and hurried across the yard.

She still had the rabbits to feed and water, and it was starting to get dark. It was almost time for dinner. Jenny knew she'd better hurry. Dad had been grumpy lately. Soon he would be looking for her, and his mood would not be good. Even though she knew he was grumpy because he had lost his job, it was still hard to understand. It was unlike him to be grumpy, but now he snapped at her all the time.

Jenny entered the rabbit pen, opened a cage, and slipped out a food bowl. Reaching into the feed can, she scooped some feed into the bowl then put it back into Hoppity's cage. The water bowl was still full from the morning, so she moved on to the next rabbit.

She moved down the line, caring for each of her bunnies one by one. Just last week Mom had come into Jenny's room late, just to talk. "There's no need for you to fret," she'd told Jenny. "Your dad will find work quick enough. Things will get better. I promise."

Jenny shoved a food bowl into Frostine's cage, then moved on to Thumper. After pulling on each cage door to double-check that it was locked, she turned to go.

Mokey, the barn cat, came trotting down the sidewalk, meowing and rubbing against Jenny's legs. She stopped to pet the orange-and-black-marbled cat. Mokey wove in and out of Jenny's legs, purring as she stroked her.

"Jenny!" Mom called sharply.

"I'm coming, Mom!" Jenny answered.

"Well, hurry up! Why do you always lollygag? It's almost dark!"

Jenny sighed and told herself to be patient. Things would get better. Mom had promised.

Springer met Jenny at the backdoor, his tail wagging so hard that his whole body wiggled. Grinning, Jenny scratched her dog's head and knelt down to kiss him on the nose. He was a black-and-white Border collie mix they had rescued from the pound.

Inside, Dad was sitting at the kitchen table. His elbows were on the newspaper spread out before him. With his head in his hands, he scanned the classified section. Mom was at the counter making sandwiches.

"Dinner is almost ready," she said softly.

Jenny wrestled with Springer on the way in the door. "Come on boy! Speak to me! Speak!"

"Jenny!" A dark expression exploded on Dad's face as he looked up. "Can't you ever come in the house quietly? I'm trying to read the paper, and all I get is a lot of racket."

Jenny felt the tears stinging her eyes. She hadn't meant to be noisy.

Mom patted her shoulder. "He's worried," she whispered, then handed Jenny a plate with a ham-and-cheese sandwich and a few chips. "Why don't you go into the living room and let Dad look for a job in peace?"

Grasping the plate, Jenny headed for the other room with Springer following her. When she turned on the television set, he sat down and rested his head on her knee.

"Do you love me, Springer? Or is it my sandwich that you love?"

Springer cocked his head to the side and whined an answer as she began to watch cartoons. She was so engrossed in the show that she didn't hear her mom come in.

"Jenny? Don't you have a book or something you can read?"

"I guess, but I'd rather watch cartoons."

"I think you'd better read," Mom said in that same soft voice. "Your father's worried about all the bills we have coming, and the noise from these silly shows could make him crabbier."

"Cartoons aren't silly!" Jenny protested. "I can't believe you won't let me watch TV!"

"Oh, Jenny! Please don't argue with me! We have enough problems as it is. If your father doesn't find a job soon, we could lose everything!"

"What do you mean?" Jenny bit her lip.

Mom sank down on the couch and pushed a strand of long brown hair away from her face. "It's been over half a year now. I thought your father would have another job quickly, but it just hasn't happened. Now we all have to pull together to keep from losing it."

"Losing what?" Jenny bit her lip again.

"Everything, honey. The farm, the house, the animals—everything."

Pulling Springer close to her leg, Jenny wrapped her arms around him. "But, how? You said everything would be OK!"

"I thought it would be. But we're three months behind on our house payments, and we have a stack of bills four inches high on the desk. As if that weren't enough, your father hasn't even had one call from the jobs he has been interviewed for. My part-time job at the grocery store just isn't enough."

"What are we going to do?" Jenny whispered. "We can't lose the farm!" She thought about Magic and Mokey, her special cat. And what about the rabbits?

Continues...

Excerpted from Charming Ponies: A Pony to Rememberby Lois Szymanski Copyright © 2007 by Lois Szymanski. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: HarperFestival
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0061288705
• ISBN 13: 9780061288708
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 69
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar