Post by tintin on Mar 5, 2013 13:53:54 GMT 1
Rather like “Five O’Clock Charlie” this book tempted me for some time because of the charming horse on the cover.
Badger is a sturdy piebald pony with a very characterful face. He is the type of horse that looks at you in an “I want you to be my pal” sort of way, but you know it will be on equal terms. If he pulls at my heartstrings in this sort of way you can imagine the effect he has on a nine year old horse mad girl – Ros Palfrey the other main character in the book.
Ros dreams of horses and is delighted one day when Badger appears tethered on a nearby piece of grassland. Unfortunately Badger’s new owners, the Smiths, have great ambitions, as he has a record as a showjumper, but little experience or sympathy with horses. Soon it is “Poor Badger” indeed. Ros finds out slowly and progressively quite how bad the Smiths, particularly the father, are.
With the help of friends and neighbours she tries to help him, but there is only so much they can do. In the end she decides to take drastic action and remove badger to the field of a local character “Pig Man Jim” who she feels sure will look after him better.
With the aid of her best friend, a young boy, Leo, she embarks on a night time horse abduction adventure. This is really good. Like any night operation all sorts go wrong, despite careful planning and rehearsal. Surprisingly to Ros this reveals hidden depths in Leo, though this is not uncommon in real life as many surprising people rise to a crisis and is, to me, a nice touch in the book.
There is a happy ending. Jim takes to Badger and the Smith’s did not even care enough to report him lost. I love Badger and would love a sequel. The characters are great and it is believable. It is very like the Lost Pony, but the child characters are much more likeable and plot better. In the same class as Black Beauty in showing how quickly a careless owner can wreck a horse’s heath and character.
Would make a good film.
Badger is a sturdy piebald pony with a very characterful face. He is the type of horse that looks at you in an “I want you to be my pal” sort of way, but you know it will be on equal terms. If he pulls at my heartstrings in this sort of way you can imagine the effect he has on a nine year old horse mad girl – Ros Palfrey the other main character in the book.
Ros dreams of horses and is delighted one day when Badger appears tethered on a nearby piece of grassland. Unfortunately Badger’s new owners, the Smiths, have great ambitions, as he has a record as a showjumper, but little experience or sympathy with horses. Soon it is “Poor Badger” indeed. Ros finds out slowly and progressively quite how bad the Smiths, particularly the father, are.
With the help of friends and neighbours she tries to help him, but there is only so much they can do. In the end she decides to take drastic action and remove badger to the field of a local character “Pig Man Jim” who she feels sure will look after him better.
With the aid of her best friend, a young boy, Leo, she embarks on a night time horse abduction adventure. This is really good. Like any night operation all sorts go wrong, despite careful planning and rehearsal. Surprisingly to Ros this reveals hidden depths in Leo, though this is not uncommon in real life as many surprising people rise to a crisis and is, to me, a nice touch in the book.
There is a happy ending. Jim takes to Badger and the Smith’s did not even care enough to report him lost. I love Badger and would love a sequel. The characters are great and it is believable. It is very like the Lost Pony, but the child characters are much more likeable and plot better. In the same class as Black Beauty in showing how quickly a careless owner can wreck a horse’s heath and character.
Would make a good film.