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Book review: 'The Winter Pony'
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"The Winter Pony" by Iain Lawrence. Age 9 and older. $17.
This is a book about a horse named Pigg, James Pigg that is. This is an exciting, thrilling, sometimes sad, historical novel. That means it is based on real events in history, but some of the events come from the author's imagination. The history in this story is a real-life race between Englishman Robert Falcon Scott and Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen to be the first person to reach the South Pole. The book is set in 1910 just after American explorers Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had reached the North Pole. Their success prompted the race southward.
Because the race took place in frigid, blizzard conditions and because this was in a time before cars, trucks and jeeps, the explorers used animals to help carry them and their equipment Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had reached the North Pole. James Pigg is one of the 20 horses Scott took with him.
The story is told through the horse's point of view. That's especially interesting as you think about how the animals would have experienced their adventures.
First Published April 23, 2012 12:00 am
