Olivia Tuffin’s Sunshine Stables: Amina and the Amazing Pony is a pony camp story for 7 year olds about a girl who wants to win a little TOO much.<\/p>\n
Amina is spending a week at pony camp, caring for a tiny golden palomino called Nutmeg. Nutmeg is barely eleven hands high and bursting with personality. They’re a perfect match.<\/p>\n
Then Lainey, who runs the riding school, announces a trial for one place on a showjumping team. Everyone wants it. The girls even make a promise on their lucky horseshoe to stay friends whoever wins.<\/p>\n
But Amina wants it more than anyone. Her big sister Prisha is a star gymnast, away competing in Germany. Amina gave up gymnastics after a bad fall and a broken ankle, and she’s desperate to prove that ponies were the right choice.<\/p>\n
So she starts doing things she knows aren’t kind. She doesn’t offer to help shy Poppy with her plaits. She fakes a headache to skip the fun games. When the young instructor offers the whole group a turn on her lovely grey horse, Amina keeps quiet and takes it herself.<\/p>\n
Have you ever wanted something so badly it made you a bit mean? That’s what makes this one special. Amina isn’t a baddie. She’s a girl who’s got herself in a muddle, and your reader will feel every twinge of her guilt.<\/p>\n
There’s lots of real pony detail too, from plaiting a mane to the dos and don’ts of a cross-country course. The handy-pony games (hooking plastic ducks with a fishing net, pegging socks on a washing line) look brilliant fun. And there’s a barefoot water fight in the water jump.<\/p>\n
One thing to be ready for. Amina’s plan to impress Lainey ends with a fall from Nutmeg and a trip to hospital. It’s only bruises, and it’s handled calmly, but a nervous new rider might want to talk it over.<\/p>\n
Amina’s camp friends have had adventures of their own that get a quick mention, but this story works perfectly well by itself. It’s a lovely one for a reader who’s just starting to get competitive about something they love.<\/p>\n
If they’re after another pony-mad girl, The Pony With No Name begins with Bryony moving to a cottage by the sea, missing her old riding stables and the gymkhana rosette she won there. A gentle heads-up that her dad died six months before the story starts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Olivia Tuffin’s Sunshine Stables: Amina and the Amazing Pony is a pony camp story for 7 year olds about a girl who wants to win a little TOO much. Amina is spending a week at pony camp, caring for a tiny golden palomino called Nutmeg. Nutmeg is barely eleven hands high and bursting with personality. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13418,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":9335,"lr_next_read_anchor":"The Pony With No Name","lr_seo_hook":"Amina wants the team place so badly she forgets how to be a good friend."},"book_tag":[18],"age_group":[19],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[770],"class_list":["post-8754","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-animal-books","age_group-books-for-7-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-olivia-tuffin"],"yoast_title":"Sunshine Stables: Amina and the Amazing Pony by Olivia Tuffin | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"Amina wants the team place so badly she forgets how to be a good friend. For ages 7+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n