“The Red Pony” is an excellent book to read. Not only did it focus on some of the situations we all have to face at some point but it also focuses on life and death itself. This story takes place during the 1930’s in California and Jody (the main character) takes you through the events of his life.

There are four short stories and the first was “The Gift”. Jody is surprised with a pony. He is very excited about taking care of it but sadly the pony dies a tragic death. Jody was heartbroken and he mourned for days after the death. The second story was “The Great Mountains” and this story brings a new character named Gitano. He was born on the Tifflins land and so he returns and he would like to die on their land. In the third story “The Promise” Billy Buck promises that Jody will get another pony. Sometimes keeping promises come with great consequences. Jody gets his pony however the mare dies. Finally the last story “The Leader of the People” is when Jody’s grandfather comes to visit. Grandfather enjoys telling his stories but Carl Tifflin doesn’t have much patience for them. So Carl insults Grandfather by saying that his stories are boring. Grandfather is very hurt, but he learns a very important lesson which was “stop living in the past”.

I gave this book five stars because this is a very high-quality book to read. I would recommend it to anyone I know because it can teach you how to look at things at different perspectives. Not only did it focus on realistic situations but it showed a boy grow and mature into a young man. It also showed many different personalities Jody is very kind and quiet while Carl is very discourteous.