When the balloon was born I was going to tell it exactly what I thought about it, how sick it had made my mother and how it had ruined my life. Ruby’s mum is having a baby, but why does she need one of those when she’s already got a Ruby? To make matters worse, her best friend Sarah has just found another, BETTER friend. It seems like everyone is abandoning her. But when Ruby meets the mysterious Magda, who gives her a very special gift that might, just MIGHT even be a bit magical, everything begins to change.

The Wish Pony was Catherine’s first exploration of magic realism. It was partly inspired by a small ornamental horse she once saw in a relatives display cabinet.

• ISBN: 9781741663242
• Author: Bateson, Catherine
• Published: 2008 , Woolshed Press
• Themes: abandonment, Magic, new baby, rivalry, sibling
• Descriptors: Australia, Fantasy, Intermediate (ages 9-14)
• No. of pages: 148