Misty, now thirteen, has been coping since her mum died over two years ago. She’s lucky to have two good friends in school, Ruby and Jasmine. Yet when life falls even further apart, Misty doesn’t tell them she has to move to a CITY OF HORSES.
Misty’s dad loses his job to work budget rearrangements. He can’t continue paying rent in the nice suburb and decides they are better to take a house on the Redbridge council estate. Here, Misty thinks that everyone will scorn her for being posh, while her classmates will be unhappy with visiting the neighbourhood. She doesn’t tell them anything.
Several chapters pass before we meet a lad called Dylan, his sister Carin and their ponies. Here on the estate, there is a sparse area of common grass, and the ponies stay there during all weathers. Misty quickly finds Dylan a bad influence in that he encourages her to skip school and fuss with the ponies. Nobody here much seems to care. To fool her pals – who watch Disney + and order food delivery on their sleepovers – Misty doesn’t answer texts and says she has been ill.
We get a look at perceptions of unemployment, poverty, unhappiness and lack of parenting. I feel absolutely astonished that at thirteen, Misty doesn’t cook. She watches her father put pasta and tomato sauce on the table night after night. She could do that much at least. She could learn to bake chicken pies or baked potatoes with fillings, from the discounted food in the supermarket. At thirteen I was cooking for a family of five. Cooking for two would be much easier. Misty could learn by watching TV or YouTube or getting recipe books from the library, but just uses texts – which cost money. Then it seems too foreseeable that she would hide the truth from her best friends Ruby and Jasmine, which of course makes matters worse.
A big bully needs to be in the story to keep in line with young adult books of today. We learn that the local city council has decided to sell the common land to build luxury apartments, so there will be nowhere to keep the ponies. Frances Moloney shows that talking the situation over with others is the best option, and ideas can be presented, actions decided and hope sustained. CITY OF HORSES will suit girls of twelve who like reading about school – I wanted to read anything but, at that age – and coping with change. We can be braver than we expect, and Misty’s example is good and bad by turns. She should really learn to cook.
A girl moves to a new part of town where ponies run free, in this warm-hearted middle-grade story of change, family and finding your home
New home. New friendships. New rules. Thirteen-year-old Misty’s life is about to be turned upside down. When her dad loses his job, they’re forced to move to Redbridge – a world away from her house and her friends. But this new part of town brings plenty of surprises – she wasn’t expecting to live somewhere that horses run free, and she certainly wasn’t expecting to meet Dylan, a mysterious local boy who loves horses...
Misty is determined to keep up appearances and hide this new version of life from her old friends at all costs. But the horses she has grown to love come under threat, and she must fight for the courage to stand up for what she believes, and to help save the place she now calls home.
This is a heart-warming story for pony-loving middle grade readers, covering a broad range of topics involved in overcoming new challenges. Handling topics such as friendship, family, grief, unemployment, and moving home with a masterful touch, the book will appeal to young readers who like friendship drama and realistic novels where characters are resourceful and determined to make a difference. This is a touching and convincing portrait of an adolescent forced to grow up before her time, but at the heart of this uplifting book is a time-old story of the transformative bond between animal and child.
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