Pony on the Twelfth Floor

March 15, 2020
A horse-crazy city girl has her wish fulfilled when she finds a stray pony at the grocery store. Kizzy has always wanted a pony, but living in an apartment building on a limited budget hasn't allowed for so much as riding lessons. So when she and her best friend, Pawel, discover a pony munching on the pastries, Kizzy thinks quickly, claiming the pony and taking it home. She manages to get "Donut" up to her apartment and into her bedroom without anyone noticing--even overnight. But getting her new pony in and out of the building daily, finding the money to buy food for the constant eater, cleaning up his poop, and keeping him out of trouble all challenge her ambition to keep him. With a little help from some old and new friends, Kizzy keeps the pony longer than she logically should, but when she finally finds its rightful owner, it's not the devastating farewell she had feared. The book's premise is one many children will enjoy, and though the story feels overlong--rather like Donut's sojourn with Kizzy--Faber writes in a way that respects young readers' intelligence, making this a chapter-book/middle-grade hybrid ideal for young, advanced readers. Full- and half-page black-and-white illustrations show that Kizzy and her family are black; her friend Pawel's family is Polish. Featuring innocent content written with flair, this book fills a gap. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 27, 2020
Faber (the Mango & Bambang series) opens this caper on a droll note, explaining that though Kizzy had always dreamed of owning a pony, “she’d never expected to pick one up from the grocery store.” But after the 11-year-old and her friend Pawel spot an unattended pony gorging on doughnuts in a shop, Kizzy impulsively claims ownership. Her imagination instantly ignites as she decides that the pony, which she names Donut, “smelled of dreams come true,” and envisions riding him competitively and being tapped for the Olympics. But reality sets in—more or less—when the girl realizes the hurdles she must jump to conceal Donut, which involves hiding him in her bedroom, in Pawel’s backyard shed, in her school’s walled garden, and on a pony-loving neighbor’s apartment balcony, all comically portrayed in cartoon art by Jennings (On the First Day of First Grade). The animal’s insatiable appetite wreaks amusing havoc on multiple occasions while triggering a surfeit of scatological humor. Faber neatly weaves Kizzy’s sly resourcefulness, devotion to Donut, and rapports with friends and family into a sprightly, uplifting story. Ages 8–12.

July 1, 2020
Horse-obsessed British city-dweller Kizzy seizes her chance to make her dream come true the day an unaccompanied pony shows up in the grocery store, chowing down on glazed donuts. Her friend Pawel urges her to contact the police, but Kizzy can't bear to hand over the pony, now named Donut, before spending a little more time with him: "He smelled of dreams come true." So Donut takes the elevator up to Kizzy's twelfth-floor apartment and spends the night in her bedroom, pooping and stepping on things and eating, and Kizzy couldn't be happier. The next day Kizzy tries to report the lost pony, but the worker at city hall assumes the creature is a large dog, tells her to come back Monday, and closes the office for the weekend. That suits Kizzy just fine, but where is she going to keep Donut? Faber's determined protagonist, depicted in Jennings's insouciant grayscale cartoons as a brown-skinned preteen with curly hair, is full of visions of her future equestrian successes with the rotund Donut -- an endearing window into this age-level's active fantasy life. Genuine relationships Kizzy forms with previously distant or neutral grown-ups (including an elderly hoarder neighbor who supplies Kizzy with tack and Donut with cookies) are one of the story's strengths. Adult readers will appreciate the way all riders model helmet use, while young readers will be on seat's edge wondering how Kizzy's madcap adventure can end in anything but tears. That Faber manages to pull out a happy yet believable ending is testament to this chapter book's abiding respect for its audience's impossible dreams.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2020
Horse-obsessed British city-dweller Kizzy seizes her chance to make her dream come true the day an unaccompanied pony shows up in the grocery store, chowing down on glazed donuts. Her friend Pawel urges her to contact the police, but Kizzy can't bear to hand over the pony, now named Donut, before spending a little more time with him: "He smelled of dreams come true." So Donut takes the elevator up to Kizzy's twelfth-floor apartment and spends the night in her bedroom, pooping and stepping on things and eating, and Kizzy couldn't be happier. The next day Kizzy tries to report the lost pony, but the worker at city hall assumes the creature is a large dog, tells her to come back Monday, and closes the office for the weekend. That suits Kizzy just fine, but where is she going to keep Donut? Faber's determined protagonist, depicted in Jennings's insouciant grayscale cartoons as a brown-skinned preteen with curly hair, is full of visions of her future equestrian successes with the rotund Donut -- an endearing window into this age-level's active fantasy life. Genuine relationships Kizzy forms with previously distant or neutral grown-ups (including an elderly hoarder neighbor who supplies Kizzy with tack and Donut with cookies) are one of the story's strengths. Adult readers will appreciate the way all riders model helmet use, while young readers will be on seat's edge wondering how Kizzy's madcap adventure can end in anything but tears. That Faber manages to pull out a happy yet believable ending is testament to this chapter book's abiding respect for its audience's impossible dreams. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)