Pony by Palacio R. J (review)
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Pony by Palacio R. J
Library ed. ISBN 9780553508123 $20.99
Trade ed. ISBN 9780553508116 $17.99
E-book ed. ISBN 9780553508130 $10.99
Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-7
It’s 1860, and Silas lives an isolated life in rural Ohio with his photographer father [End Page 26] and the company of a devoted ghost, Mittenwool. Their peace is shattered when a gang of criminals turns up, insisting that Silas’ father is key to their counterfeiting operation and kidnapping him. Twelve-year-old Silas mounts up on one of their lost horses, a beautiful bald-faced Arabian he calls Pony, and rides after the men to save his father, first joining forces with a cantankerous federal marshal he meets along the way, then enlisting the help of a sheriff and deputy in a nearby town. Will Silas manage to save his father, and will he learn the truth about family secrets? There’s an element of Curtis’ Journey of Little Charlie (BCCB 1/18) and Timberlake’s One Came Home (BCCB 2/13) in this story of a nineteenth-century kid who’s suddenly thrust into seeing more of the world than he’s known, and there’s plenty of plausible period detail about Silas and his dad’s rich autodidactic reading and explorations in chemistry and technology. The mystical elements of his lifelong friendship with Mittenwool, his ability to see other ghosts, and his connection with elegant Pony add an otherworldly sheen; while Mittenwool is sometimes a too-convenient device for rendering Silas nearly omniscient, he’s also a continued bridge to the other side in a narrative wherein the dead feature as strongly as the living. Readers will especially appreciate the following of a variety of threads to satisfying conclusions and Silas’ linking of the past to a promising future. The author’s note gives more information and resources about relevant history.
