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Haas, Jessie

The Hungry Place

190 pp. | Boyds | October, 2020 | Trade ISBN 978-1-68437-794-7 $17.99
(2) 4-6 Princess, born a champion Connemara pony at Highover Farm, has all the best care from her doting, elderly owner Roland. In a separate but linked narrative, Rae, a scrappy eight-year-old with the love of horses "printed on her heart," sees Princess at a horse show and is immediately smitten--but any kind of horse or pony is out of her family's reach, let alone a champion like Princess. Some years pass, and Princess racks up ribbons while Rae's grandmother, Gammer, teaches Rae how to work for her dreams: saving, seizing opportunities to learn, never giving up. Dark clouds loom for Princess, though, when Roland has a stroke and his unscrupulous employees steal everything of value and put Princess out to pasture with a herd of rough-and-tumble ponies. With no one feeding them and winter approaching, the ponies eat the grass in their enclosure down to the dirt. Tender-hearted readers (that is, all horse-loving readers) will weep at Princess's peril and, even more, her loneliness, told from a pony's-eye view. In Rae's part of the story, they'll cheer Gammer's wisdom, compassion, and good advice; friends Sam and Tully's emotional and practical support; and Rae's persistence and faith in her dream. Readers' sympathetic agony is eventually replaced with tears of happiness as Haas brings the story around to a rousing happily-ever-after ending.
Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

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