The Great Pony Hassle

By Nancy Springer and Daniel Mark Duffy

4 girls and only 1 pony!

When their mother remarries, twin sisters Toni and Staci get . . . twin stepsisters! Toni and Staci have almost nothing in common with their new siblings—Paisley is loud and spoiled, and Stirling is pretty and perfect—but all of the girls love horses. When Paisley brings home a pony of her own, with a sugar-colored mane and sweet dark eyes, the rest of the sisters are consumed with jealousy. How can 4 horse-crazy girls get along when there's only 1 pony?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media Young Readers
• Release date: Sep 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504021302

Nancy Springer

Nancy Springer is the award-winning author of more than fifty books, including the Enola Holmes and Rowan Hood series and a plethora of novels for all ages, spanning fantasy, mystery, magic realism, and more. She received the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for Larque on the Wing and the Edgar Award for her juvenile mysteries Toughing It and Looking for Jamie Bridger, and she has been nominated for numerous other honors. Springer currently lives in the Florida Panhandle, where she rescues feral cats and enjoys the vibrant wildlife of the wetlands.

Book preview

1

In Which the Incredible Brat Gets Her Way

You promised! Paisley McPherson yelled at her father. You told me if we had to live here, you’d get me a pony. You did!

The Fontecchio twins, Staci and Toni, gawked at each other. Hardly in their door, this Paisley person was already being an incredible brat.

Well, I don’t remember any of that, Mr. McPherson said uncertainly.

"You told me, hollered Paisley, if I couldn’t have a room to myself, you’d at least get me a pony!"

The Fontecchio twins turned identical dark-skinned faces to stare, but the McPherson twins ignored them. Stirling McPherson, the other McPherson girl, ignored her father and sister too. She sat down on the arm of the sofa, since the rest of the Fontecchio living room was piled with McPherson boxes and luggage, and she folded her hands in her lap, looking like Princess Di. Stirling had a small pointed face and scads of blond hair and the biggest indigo-blue eyes in the continental United States.

The others remained standing. First I have to get stuck in that lousy apartment, Paisley McPherson shouted to the world, "just because my mother wants to go and join the Army, and then I have to get moved to this even lousier house, and now my own father doesn’t remember what he promised me!"

The Fontecchio twins gaped at mouthy Paisley and silent Stirling. So alike themselves, Staci and Toni were not used to seeing twins so different from each other. Paisley had a big round face and dirt-brown hair and eyes. She and Stirling didn’t look like twins. They didn’t even look like sisters.

But twins they were. Staci and Toni knew they were. In fact, they were sick of hearing about how they were going to be a family with two sets of twins, four girls, all ten years old. Ever since their mother and Bruce McPherson had gotten engaged, it seemed that nobody in their town or their school could talk about anything else. The newspaper had even done an article on them. Two new sisters their own age. Big whoop.

Two new sisters, one of whom was shouting like a monster out of a horror movie maybe called The Brat That Ate the World.

I guess you’re going to tell me there’s no place to keep a pony, Paisley was yelling at her father, or something like that, but I already looked. There’s a big backyard. Plenty of room.

Great, Staci’s eyes signaled Toni, Now she’s going to take over our backyard as well as my bedroom. She did not have to say anything. Each of the Fontecchio twins generally knew what the other one was thinking without having to talk.

They knew they didn’t think much of Mr. McPherson, who showed signs of giving in to Paisley.

They knew how much they loved ponies themselves, especially palomino ponies.…

They knew they would never have asked their mother for anything so big and expensive. Their mom had always worked hard for not enough money.

They knew they already detested Paisley so much that they hoped she didn’t get the pony, because it would be her pony and not theirs.

Mr. McPherson looked across the room at Toni and Staci’s mother. Bruce McPherson and Cathy Fontecchio seemed to be talking to each other with their eyes much the same way the Fontecchio twins did. All the girls except Stirling watched, and saw Cathy shrug.

Well, Mr. McPherson finally said to his loud daughter, if you’re going to have a pony, your sister should have one too.

Paisley knew her father had given in. Yee-hah! She looked around the room for a place to run and jump. There was nowhere, because the place was full of junk and boxes. So she jumped up and down where she stood.

But Stirling said to her own small, quiet hands, without looking up, I don’t want any stupid pony.

Jeez! Toni signaled Staci with a look. Stirling was not an incredible brat, at least not that they knew of. They wouldn’t have minded if Stirling had gotten a pony to maybe share with them.

Well, something, said Mr. McPherson awkwardly. Maybe not a pony, but you should have something. Then he seemed to think of his