A Fun Ride From Pony Pals books to a Pony Pals Virtual World
Club Pony Pals will let every kid own, care for and ride the pony they always wanted - online. This is a very early stage of a ‘virtual world’ that is based on the Pony Pals books. Anyone who has read Jeanne Betancourt’s series knows that Wiggins is a safe, small town where three best friends named Pam, Anna and Lulu ride ponies together. These girls call their riding club the ‘Pony Pals.’ For every kid (or kid at heart) who ever wanted a pony, welcome to Club Pony Pals.
Taking My Little Pony to a New Level
Club Pony Pals welcomes you to a virtual world where children get to own, care for, and even ride a virtual pony. Based on the books by Jeanne Betancourt, according to the site “here you can ride the pony you always wanted”.
“My daughter (who is two) saw this site and went nuts over it - I’ve got that market covered!”
Jeanne Betancourt
It’s always a good thing to know a little something about the author who started the whole series of Pony Pal books. So here’s what we found, courtesy of her publisher, Scholastic. Born in 1941, Jeanne Betancourt grew up in rural Vermont, where she spent a lot of time helping out on the dairy farm across the road from her family’s house. Though at the time she had no intention of becoming a writer - she studied dance and planned to dance with the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall someday - her rural upbringing would later provide ideas and background for many of her books. First, however, Betancourt moved with her family to the city, where she finished school; she then pursued a religious calling, becoming a nun as well as a high school teacher. After leaving the order, Betancourt moved to New York City, where she married, raised her daughter, Nicole, divorced, remarried, taught high school, and earned a degree in film from New York University. She wrote her first children’s book in 1982, and since then has written a wide variety of acclaimed fiction and nonfiction books for young readers. Betancourt drew on her own memories and dreams while writing Kate’s Turn, which focuses on a young teen’s pursuit of a dance career; her own experience with dyslexia helped her create the title character of My Name Is Brian. And her rural upbringing, of course, helped her create the popular Pony Pals series. In addition to writing books, Betancourt has also written for television, and has received six Emmy Award nominations, two Humanities citations, and the National Psychological Award for Excellence in the Media. She divides her time between an apartment in New York City and a home in rural Connecticut.
For Parents
This is still an up and coming site - right now the children can choose their pony’s color and name. Once they adopt and name their pony, they will need to care for it in order to take it for virtual rides on trails. Every few weeks a new trail will open for the ponies to explore. Since there was no “action” involved, my son (almost five) did not find the site too interesting and kept asking when something “good” was going to happen… sigh…
Other Thoughts
Right now the Club Pony Pals site is pretty basic, but it looks to be a good way for parents to teach our little ones about boundaries, and responsibility, as the rider will need to rest and feed/water their horse when it is tired, or has been on a long ride. A great site for kids of all ages; it is an ideal teaching tool for the younger users and a great way to interact with them on the computer.
Quick Facts
* Compatible with IE 6, Firefox 2.0, 3.0 and Mac Safari 2.0 and up
* Free
* Weekly Newsletter with updates on new trails
How many ‘Clicks’ does this world get?
We like this site and give it 7 Clicks! What do you think? Send your views and votes to OneClickMoms.
Today’s Reviewer is Meredith Gilley
Meredith Gilley is the current Managing Editor for CIRCA magazine, a home and lifestyle publication, contributing writer for The Rolesvile Buzz, and owner of TheMerryWriter.com a custom content and editing service for businesses and their web sites. Meredith works from home and has two children, Alek, who is almost five and Amelia, who recently turned two. Finding balance while working from home has often been a challenge and Meredith often finds herself wearing one of her daughter’s tiaras, and holding her son’s Transformers in one hand while typing with the other, but wouldn’t have it any other way.
Coming up next
Our week of virtual pets ends tomorrow with one of the most fun and happy sites called GoPets.
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