Scarlett Owen, aged 12, takes us through her review of this new book for children
The ‘Almost’ Exmoor, by R.S Turner is an engaging novel describing the adventures of a naughty Exmoor pony named Sunny, and two sisters, Sammy and Emily. The book is written in the first person, with Sammy narrating the story, although the main focus of the story is Emily, as she is the one who must take care of Sunny. The main storyline follows Sunny, Emily and Sammy as they work to prove to Sunny’s owner that Emily is capable of keeping Sunny.
My favourite character is Sammy herself, an imaginative nine-year-old who, although is not as interested in horses as her sister, spends a lot of time at the yard making up stories about Sunny and her friends. The story was based on a true one, and although the characters are fictional, they all seem very real, and the daily life at their yard is very similar to life at many other yards.
My favourite part of the book is when the yard owner, Hannah, shows Emily her special method called ‘Join- Up’ when Emily is trying to catch Sunny in from the field, and Sunny reacts so trustingly to Emily, and follows her everywhere. Sammy’s imaginings made me laugh several times, and at one very sad point in the book I nearly cried. The story is brought to life with photos of the real ‘Sunny’ and hilarious illustrations of Sammy’s visions by Daisy May Colleridge.
Although this is probably a book for younger readers, I loved it and would recommend it to all ages, 7-11-year-olds in particular. It has a very horsey theme and all children who are interested in ponies would love it, however since Sammy is not horse-obsessed herself, I think other children would also enjoy it. This book is a funny, captivating story, and would be loved by any child, horse-mad or not.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
