A review by debbieg
Pony by R.J. Palacio

5.0

I think I might peg this as YA rather than middle-grade. Although the story is (relatively) simple, the language and tone are reflective of the historical period and many of the ideas are quite sophisticated. I haven't read Wonder, so I had no real expectations going in. At first I thought "no twelve-year-old boy speaks like this," but then I realized that the narration is partly in retrospect. Also, Silas, the narrator, has been home educated by a bookish father, taught via Homer and Dante and other classics. The author writes in an afterword that she deliberately chose a style of language to reflect this. Otherwise, this novel is kind of hard to describe: a western, a quest, with ghosts and a magic pony... no, it's absolutely not as silly as it sounds. It's a fable in one way, but also a meditation on life and death and family and connections. Silas is a lovely character, but all the adults are well drawn as well, even the villains. And the ghost. It's really good.