The Sea Pony

Reviewed by: Sheila Dube - Springvale Public Library, Springvale, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: March 7, 2017

Review

Piper Green is back in the third installment of the Piper Green and the Fairy Tree series. This review title is the paperback version. Islands off the coast of Maine are the setting of this story for newly independent readers in grades 2-4. The layout provides lots of white space, full page illustrations by Qin Leng that add detail and short chapters. Piper is an energetic, quick to act, imaginative seven-year-old narrator who wants a pony when one is delivered on the ferry for Nora Bean's farm. The special hole in the fairy tree in Piper's yard has materialized a captain's whistle that draws the attention of a seal, sea pony, to the lobster boat when Piper is helping her father bring in the traps. Although Piper gets in trouble for giving away half the bait to the seal, the animal eventually leads them to where their missing skiff has been lodged after a recent storm. Potter provides lots of details in this gentle, but humorous story for readers who have never experienced island living.

Overall Book Score: very good