Ella at Eden #8: The Shadow Pony by Laura Sieveking

Title: Ella at Eden #8: The Shadow Pony

Author: Laura Sieveking

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st October 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 192

Price: $15.99

Synopsis: When the Eden College equestrian team need an extra member, Ella volunteers. She hasn’t ridden much, but she loves horses and wants to support her best friend, Zoe. But when Ella joins the team at their equestrian camp, she keeps seeing a mysterious horse on the horizon. Some say he’s not real. Others say he’s a ghost. Can Ella help ride Eden College to victory and find out who the shadow pony belongs to?

~*~

Ella loves riding horses – and has done so whenever she’s had the chance, but she’s never had her own horse. Whilst watching the Eden College equestrian team practice, she wishes she can join – and when Lucy injures herself before a big interschool equestrian competition, Ella volunteers to step in as an extra member to help out if needed in the cross-country event. They arrive at the equestrian event at St Margaret’s, and quickly make friends with girls from another school, whilst trying to keep an eye out for the nasty St Margaret’s girls who prank everyone and always win. But Ella is distracted by a pony she keeps seeing in the hills above the school – and everyone says he’s not real, or that he is a ghost. Ella is determined to find out the truth about the mysterious pony and find out who he belongs to – all whilst helping Eden College in the competition!

The eighth Ella at Eden book is delightful – each one gets better, building on the series whilst giving us new insight into the activities Ella has available to her at Eden. Growing up, series like the Saddle Club and other books about horses and ponies were popular for girls my age, and I think what Ella at Eden does beautifully here is tap into that love, joy, and obsession for a new generation. Here, we get to see Ella discover a new hobby and sport to add to her ever-growing list of things she enjoys, and I loved that Ella’s friends on the equestrian team were so supportive of her. It’s one of my favourite things about this series, that everyone is unique, and there for each other, and each book features different characters around Ella.

Another thing I love about this series overall is that each book explores a different activity available at Eden, and therefore, the focus of each book is on Ella’s experience with it. I loved that she got to do something she enjoyed and that she was also a little outside of her comfort zone in this book, because it suited her character to do so, and her connection with the pony she found was beautiful – it was something magical and I also loved all the boarding school shenanigans that went on – some things in boarding school stories never change with pranks, midnight feasts, and making friends. This is the latest book, and I feel like they’re getting more fun as the series goes on – I’m wondering how many more we’ll get, and if the series will take us through the whole of Ella’s time at high school! It will be interesting to see what comes next.

Another brilliant Ella at Eden book!