By Marguerite Henry
The classic pony story about two children saving up to buy a wild foal off the island where the ponies run free.
On the island of Chincoteague, wild ponies swim over from Assateague once a year to be rounded up and sold. Paul and Maureen Beebe set their hearts on one mare, the Phantom, and her new foal, Misty, and spend the whole book working and saving to make them theirs.
This is the pony story a lot of parents remember loving, and it holds up. It moves at an older, gentler pace than a new book would, which is part of its charm and worth knowing if your child is used to faster stories. What carries it is the wanting: two children who want a wild pony so badly they'll do anything honest to earn her. A horse-obsessed child knows that feeling in their bones. And it's real, there was a Misty, which turns the last page into a door your child will want to walk through.