No Ponies for Miss Pobjoy

Megan, Frances, and the other pupils at Canterdown Girls' School were dismayed at the retirement of their beloved headmistress - the easy-going, horse-mad Mrs. Mulvaney - but even that calamity paled in comparison to the news that her replacement, Miss Pobjoy, intended to ban ponies. No ponies at Canterdown?! Why, they were a riding school, and while they had certainly gotten a little slack, academically speaking - and also in sport... and, yes, even in riding competitions - they would always be a riding school! Wouldn't they...?

And so begins No Ponies for Miss Pobjoy, an amusing send up of both the girls' school-story and pony-book genres, in which the rebellious pupils and stiff (and completely inexperienced) headmistress face off. show more The girls pull some pretty extreme stunts - the sequence with the horses inside the school was quite dramatic, as was the accidental demolition of the stables! - and Miss Pobjoy demonstrates some rather dire cluelessness, when it comes to the motivations and behavior of some of her students, but in the end, the changes that come to Canterdown are not quite what either side expected.

I enjoyed this late school-story (published in 1975) from Ursula Moray Williams, whose fantasies for younger readers - Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse, Gobbolino the Witch's Cat - were already quite well known to me. I wouldn't say it was outstandingly entertaining, but for those with an interest in either school stories or pony books, it is certainly worth examining. show less