No Small Thing

When twelve-year-old Nathaniel and his two sisters, Cid and Queenie, discover an ad for a free pony in the paper, they can hardly believe their luck. The pony is theirs, as long as they can afford to take care of it. But what will their mother say? Nat knows things are hard for his mom; his dad walked out on them four years ago. But having a pony would help Nat and Cid stop bickering and it would mean so much to Queenie. When Nat's mother lets them keep it, life is still not easy, but at the end of each day, Nat knows his pony is waiting from him. Until a fire destroys the barn... Winner of the Hackmatack Book Award, No Small Thing was also a Silver Birch Honour Book and shortlisted for the Canadian Library Assocation's Book of the Year for Children Award. In Ontario, Canada, in 1977, twelve-year-old Nat and his sisters find that owning, training, and caring for a pony they acquired for free makes it easier to cope with the poverty they have faced since their father abandoned them Twelve-year-old Nat and his two sisters adopt a pony and caring for it helps them deal with their father's absence and the difficulties of growing up