Noni the Pony Rescues a Joey

April 1, 2019
After Noni the Pony and pals Coco (a cat) and Dave (a dog) meet a young wallaby on the trail, they help him find his family. Continuing her rhyming series, Lester lets Noni the Pony do what she does best--run free in the Australian hills. Noni is exploring with her two friends when they discover a lost, distressed wallaby joey. Thinking his family group, also called a mob, must be near, the four animals start looking. On their way, they meet several well-known Australian animals such as a koala, a wombat, a platypus, and an emu as well as others perhaps less familiar to American readers, such as an echidna, a possum, a goanna, and a quoll. Unfortunately, "no one has spotted the wallaby mob, / and Joey's small sniffle becomes a big sob," so Noni invites Joey to her home. It's there that they find Joey's wallaby family, and everyone celebrates their reunion by the light of the moon. This simple tale is a nifty introduction to Australian animals and their homes. As a read-aloud, the dialogue will need a bit of practice to keep the meter. Illustrations are colorful and detailed, with splashes of humor (Noni and Dave have identical orange-and-white coloring, and the cow chorus line is a hoot), but the wallaby family is shown as a father, mother and two children when usually only one wallaby is born at a time. A sweet tale of friends helping friends. (Picture book. 3-6)

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June 1, 2019

PreS-K-The star of Noni the Pony and Noni the Pony Goes to the Beach is back with her dear friends Dave Dog and Coco the Cat. They are off together for a playful day of roaming around when they meet a wallaby joey who is clearly lost and alone. Noni and her pals are ready to help and make an adventure out of it. They begin to ask their friends-Koala, Wombat, Platypus, Emu, Echidna, Possum, Goanna, and Quoll-but no one is much help at all. The rhyming text forces readers to pick up speed, which allows for great anticipation. What will happen to the poor joey if they cannot find his parents? Noni invites him to stay with her but just as the friends get back to their home by the bay, "who do they see in the twilight's dim glow?/The wallaby family, looking for Joe!" The animals celebrate the reunion. Young children will relate to the themes of friendship and feeling scared, along with the lesson of staying close by your family. The detailed illustrations, which include black outlined drawings with textured backgrounds, bring all of the animals to life and are perfect for the preschool age group as they will learn what some unfamiliar animals look like. VERDICT Recommended for general purchase for a picture book collection for young children. This will make for a great read-aloud on the topics of animals, friendship, or feelings and is a soothing bedtime story.-Kristen Todd-Wurm, Middle Country Public Library, NY

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