Last summer I reviewed the first two books in a new series by a longtime favorite of mine, Ellen Potter. Piper Green and the Fairy Tree is a superb bridge chapter book series, ideal for readers ready to move up from leveled readers but not quite ready for something like The Magic Tree House or Junie B. Jones. Speaking of Junie B., Piper Green is the perfect choice for parents, educators and librarians looking for a winning, quirky, articulate girl character who is not sassy and uses words correctly. You can read my review of the first two books in the Piper Green series, which includes a list of Ellen's other books and links to my reviews of them, here.
In Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony, Piper's Saturday is filled with twists and turns, ups and downs. But that is life on Peek-a-Boo Island off the coast of Maine where the Greens live. Piper and the other islanders ride a lobster to school on the nearby Mink Island. But, bigger kids have to go to school - and live, during the week anyway - on the mainland, and that is what Piper's beloved big brother, Erik does. Home for the weekend, Piper is looking forward to time with Erik. But Erik is not feeling well and can't get out of bed. Piper decides to make him Cinnamon Snakes (cinnamon toast cut in squiggles) because that's what her mom always does when anyone is feeling under the weather. But, the Greens are all out of cinnamon.
In an organic but completely unpredicatble chain of events that perfectly characterizes the unique perspective of Piper herself, a trip to the store to buy cinnamon leads to a bosun's whistle (a gift from the fairies found in the Fairy Tree) to a glimpse of a beautiful new horse to a job as sternman (the "guy who stuffs dead fish into little net bags for lobster bait") to befriending a sea pony (a harbor seal) to finding a skiff lost in a storm to . . . riding atop that beautiful new horse!
Potter fills this series with little details about island life that, along with the maps in the front of the book, help landlocked readers get a real feel for this way of life. But, the real treat is getting to peek into Piper's life, her thought process and how she handles disappointments, new experiences and best of all, how she problem solves. While working as sternman on her father's lobster boat, Piper feeds half of the day's bait to a playful seal responding to her bosun's whistle. Piper begins to think that maybe she can ride this seal, since she learned just how much a horse costs. Piper eventually realizes the impossibility of this plan, but it doesn't get her down, or stop her planning.
And, coming soon!
Piper Green and the Fairy Tree Book 4:
Going Places
Source: Review Copy
0 Comments on Piper Green and the Fairy Tree: The Sea Pony, by Ellen Potter, illustrations by Qin Leng, 114 pp, RL 2 as of 8/15/2016 4:34:00 AM
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Sounds like a wonderful book. I don't know what RL5 means (I guess reading level 5?), so I went to Amazon and read an excerpt--perfect for the readers I review for, middle-graders. Plus I can tell I'm going to love it!
This sounds lovely--I just requested it from my own library!
Yes! Reading Level 5. I hope you like it! I have never read/seen a YA book like it. Have you read WAR HORSE by Michael Morpugo? It is set during WWI and sounds pretty intense, but it is a YA book.
I'll have to look for War Horse--I'm not familiar with it. Your comment about not wanting to read about anything bad happening to a horse--I so agree (I feel the same about dogs). I was reading this wonderful book (non-fiction, aimed at adults) called Chosen by a Horse about a woman who gets a horse from a rescue group--very warm and uplifting right up to the point where the horse gets
Dogs, for me, too. It took me YEARS to finally read Ann Martin's "A Dog's Life." I stick to kid's books because I know that, despite the pain, injuries and illnesses, good will come at the end - except WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS. Sorry to hear about your experience with "Chosen by a Horse."