In the 12th book of the Pony Tails series titled Corey’s Secret Friend, young Corey Takamura finds the dynamics of her household suddenly changed. With newly divorced parents, Corey isn’t so sure about the idea of her mother dating. Worse still, her mother is insistent she comes on a date to get to know the man – and his daughter – better.
Corey finds Alice Lee to be many things that she dislikes: non communicative, rude and not a fan of animals. She even has the audacity the express her dislike for horses in particular. The date ends with Corey vowing that she does not like Alice Lee one little bit. In time as Corey relays the evening to her friends, the three girls find themselves liking Alice less and less.
Corey doesn’t like the fact that her parents are divorced. But she does appear to be happy with her life. She has a beautiful pony that she adores and helps her mother to feed and care for him and other animals that they look after for clients.
In amongst all of these chores, Corey finds it hard to balance school homework. Over time she finds that the tasks she is required to do are being done for her by some secret friend. Corey is convinced it must be May and Jasmine but her two best friends are insistent that it isn’t.
As Corey continues to vent her frustrations about Alice, the three girls get carried away complaining about her. They are surprised – and dismayed – when they discover that Alice has overhead every single word.
Corey’s Secret Friend is a great look at horse ownership and care, but more importantly it looks at not judging someone on face value. Corey learns the importance of giving everyone a go and realises that Alice, too could be a friend if she would just let her.
Author: Bonnie Bryant
Fiction – pre teens / middle grade
In My Library? It is, along with many others in the series.
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