Horse-obsessed kids will find themselves in heaven between the pages of this book.

Main character Meg wants nothing more than to have a horse of her own, even though she knows there is no way her parents can't afford to buy her one. They can't even pay for her to have lessons anymore. Meg doesn't think her dream will ever come true until she looks out her window and sees a horse, Merlin, right in her yard. But the horse belongs to someone else and Meg is forced to do the right thing and try to find the owner and get Merlin back to his rightful home. Underlying lessons of integrity and doing the right thing even when we really don't want to are highlighted and would make for great conversation topics.

The author clearly knows and loves horses, as there are many tiny details added to the story that anyone who has been around horses will recognize. This is the perfect book to bridge beginner picture books with bigger chapter style books because there are black and white illustrations through it that will help during the transition of readers from pictures to none. This is classified as a book that has high engagement factors but geared to lower level readers, making it the perfect book for readers who may struggle and get frustrated easily. The topic and content will help keep them wanting to read more and finish.

Lovely book. I read it to my children who love horses. They loved it. The book was very well written nicely done

Meg loves ponies and likes to ride them. She went every week to ride. Then her mom and dad's jobs were cut back and she only got to go once a month...
Barrington Stoke and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It has been published and you can get a copy now.

Poor Meg. She feels so bad because she can't ride. Her birthday comes around and she finds a horse in her yard. They instantly become friends but when her mom and dad come out, they know the horse has to belong to someone. Her dad finds the owner and they take him home.

But Meg gets a surprise when she meets the owner. Can you guess what it is?

SYNOPSIS

Meg just turned ten today and she dearly loves horses. Her sole wish in life is to have her very own pony. She dreams of ponies; she wishes for ponies; she even writes Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy asking for ponies. Unfortunately, for Meg, her parents have fallen on hard times. Not only can they not afford a pony, but they had to dramatically cut back on her riding lessons.

When Meg wakes up on her tenth birthday, she notices something is different today. She smells stables, but that can’t be because she lives in a housing estate. Going to the window Meg sees a pony in her front garden! Did her dream finally come true? Did mom and dad finally find a way to get her a pony? Read the book and find out what happens to Meg and the pony.

CONCLUSION

Meg and Merlin: Making Friends is a wonderful tale for young children. The reader can feel Meg’s frustration and anguish at being unable to have her own pony or be able to ride when she wants to. The reader sympathizes with her plight and roots for her to get her very own pony. When Merlin arrives in the yard, there is a feeling of expectancy yet tempered with suspense; will she be able to keep the horse?

The story is heartwarming and up-lifting. I enjoyed all the little nuances the author included in the story such as when horses twitch their lips when they are tickled. She does an outstanding job of integrating the horse characteristics with the riders instincts.

Sònia Albert has done a superb job with the illustrations. Although they are black and white, they are age appropriate and tell the story wonderfully. Her depictions are accurate and simplistic in nature and possess just the right amount of detail to make them perfect for this book.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has ever wished to have a horse or misses their own horse. Young children will love this feel-good story!

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Meg loves ponies. She fills her room with them, she rides them as often as her parents can afford, she draws them at home and daydreams about them at school. What she wants more than anything is a pony of her own but with her parents struggling for money a pony is not top of the shopping list. So imagine Meg’s surprise when on her 10th birthday a pony appears in her garden. Have all Meg’s wishes finally come true…

Meg and Merlin: Making Friends is a heart-warming story about a young girl who meets the pony of her dreams and discovers that sometimes wishes do come true, or at least partly true. All young horse-lovers who long to have a pony of their own will relate to Meg and her predicament; the desperation to have a pony of her own but all the while knowing that it is nothing more than an impossible dream.

Tanya Landman’s short story, illustrated by Sònia Albert, is full of emotion and empathy and you quickly find yourself experiencing every high and low with Meg; the excitement she feels around horses, the utter joy she experiences when seeing Merlin in her garden, the despair of learning that Merlin is not her dream birthday gift but an escapee from elsewhere.

Like many children, Meg has a dream, but also like many children, it is a dream that stretches beyond the financial limitations of her family. Financial pressures can be the cause of great stress for many families yet Meg’s mum and dad refuse to let it affect their little family unit. Love, understanding and doing everything they can to support their daughter’s passion are what shine throughout. And as the saying goes, ‘good things happen to good people’, and Meg’s mum and dad are certainly that. And even though Meg may not have gotten her dream birthday present, a lovely surprise waits in store when the owner of the horse reveals a need for some extra help that means Meg and Merlin will be seeing plenty more of each other - something that I believe will be happening in further books in the series.

True to Barrington Stoke form, this read is printed in dyslexia friendly font and on tinted paper ensuring the book can be accessed by every child.

Huge thanks to the lovely peeps at Barrington Stoke for this delightful book.

Recommended for 7+.

This is such a beautiful short chapter book. My daughter read this book to me and she loved it. She especially loved the pictures and kept showing me every one of them saying wow look at this one. It was a lreally lovely and heartwarming tale. I think that's its really important to spend time with your child reading everyday listening to them read creates that wonderful special bond and this is a perfect book for that. I loved how it shows that parents sometimes struggle for money for riding lessons and that the Meg was very understanding and because of this attitude good things came her way. It showed the brilliant connection between horse and child. This is a perfect book for your child who is just transferring from picture books to chapter books. I can't recommend this book enough its so beautiful and such a wonderful story.
Many thanks to the author and publishers for bringing this fantastic book to life.  Bringing warmth and happiness to many children

Above review already posted on goodreads, waterstones, Google books, Barnes&noble, kobo, amazon UK and my blog https://ladyreading365.wixsite.com/website/post/meg-merlin-making-friends-by-tanya-landman-barrington-stoke-5-stars
Under the name ladyreading365

I don't read many horsey books but Tanya Landman and Barrington Stoke was a magical pairing I couldn't turn down on!

Meg And Merlin certainly is a magical little story. An ethereal connection between a child who longs for a pony and a horse who longs to explore🐎

As ever from Barrington Stoke this book is brilliant for readers who are gaining confidence. A great start to what I am sure will be a well received and well loved series.

The story addresses the issues of money worries on families due to job insecurity and the very real impact that has on children who learn to accept that they can not have the things that they would like which others may have.

Told with compassion and setting the scene for more adventures.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All of the opinions given are my own and have been given nothing for my review.

This lovely story is perfect for horse lovers and anyone who has a dream.

It’s coming up to Meg’s tenth birthday. What she really wants is the same thing she’s wanted every year for as long as she can remember – a horse of her own. She knows her parents can’t afford it – they can hardly afford the occasional riding lesson anymore – but she still can’t help but wish that one day her dream will come true.

When Meg wakes up on the morning of her birthday, she can’t believe her eyes. There’s a horse in her garden! For one brief moment, she is carried away by the hope that he might be hers. What she discovers is that the kindness of strangers, community spirit and sharing mean everyone’s dreams can come true – even the horse’s.

This is a story full of empathy. Children often have big dreams but have to accept the fact that what they want is beyond what their parents can afford. Understanding the pressures of family finances is difficult and can cause a lot of sadness for parents and children. In Meg and Merlin: Making Friends, Meg’s parents give her every opportunity they possibly can with love and encouragement. This positive family dynamic shows that compromises, sacrifices and understanding go along way to creating a happy family.

Meg and Merlin is a lovely, heart warming tale of a horse-mad girl who desperately wants a pony of her own - something that countless children (and adults!) can relate to. Meg is a believable character who the reader really feels for when she discovers Merlin in her garden, as you just know that he's not really going to belong to her. I suspect the author has maybe had experience with horses as her voice is authentic and provides lots of accurate details, My only criticism is although the illustrations are sweet, the details of the horses' tack and conformation aren't very accurate (but then again I was a horse-obsessed child who notices small details - not everyone will!).
I will be purchasing it for my school library though, as it's definitely something my pony-mad pupils will enjoy.

An absolute delight from start to finish. I loved reading about Meg and her one wish for a pony. The book reflects the fact that not all families can afford a pony, but a true horse girl can find her way to a pony. No matter what. I can't wait for Meg and Merlin's next adventure.

Meg and Merlin is such a sweet story of a young girl's dream coming true. This story brought back many precious memories of the riding lessons I took as a girl and reminded me of how much I wanted a horse of my own. This new series is going to capture the hearts of young horse lovers. The book is written perfectly for its intended age group. The story never lags and the pictures are delightful!

Thank you to NetGalley and Barrington Stoke for access to this arc.

Yes the ending is telegraphed, way, way ahead, but that doesn't mean that any child that loves horses won't love this book. It has all the elements one loves in a horse story. The girl who can't afford horses, but still loves them, and would do anything to have one. The people that do have horses and don't know how luck they are.

Meg loves horses, of course, but not only can't her parents afford to buy her one, they can't even afford to take her to lessons more often than once a month.

So when a horse shows up in their front yard Meg would do anything to keep him, but she knows she can't.

Such a good story, though predictable, of girl and horse love. Perfect for lovers of horese.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

This book maybe short but the impact it has is astounding. It is perfect for all young horse-riding fanatics out there and this book will give budding young riders hope whilst providing a background rarely seen in horse-riding fiction. Challenging some of the genre’s stereotypes Meg and Merlin is heart-warming, a story about friendships, having big dreams and how these dreams can come true…. or nearly true.

Accompanied by lovely black and white drawings by Sonia Alberts, I know many young readers will adore this special story and I hope primary libraries/classrooms will have a copy for their students to show there is always hope and other ways around perfect scenarios that can still make you happy. Meg and Merlin is a wonderful short story which will put a smile on your face by the end of the book.

I used to absolutely adore books that were about horses and horse riding as this was something that I always wanted to do when I was younger and have never gotten the chance to do. This book brought back those memories for me and that is why I loved it so much.

It was such a sweet and short book and that was yet another reason why it was perfect. If you have ever gone through a horse phase, love books about friendships between humans and animals, or just want a sweet story, this one is for you

I received this e-ARC on Netgalley for an honest review

When all Meg can think or dream about is having her own horse, having her trips to the stable cut back is another blow to her pony dreams. On her 10th birthday waking up to a pony in her front yard is the last thing Meg expects but everything she dreamed of. Is this pony a mirage, is it hers, have her parents finally got her the pony of her dreams? The look on her parents faces is all she needs to understand.

This was a cute read designed for young readers. The illustrations were just enough to add to the pony atmosphere and while the story wasn't anything particularly new in the world of pony books, it was definitely a quick, cute and feel good read. This is the ideal starting book of a new series for book loving kids and has the promise to introduce many more adventures for Meg and Merlin.

Young Meg's parents certainly can't afford for her to have her dream come true, which is ownership of a pony. They've even cut back heavily on her trips to the stables for rides. So what is a pony doing waiting for her in the front garden when Meg wakes up on the morning of her birthday? Is this magic, a mirage, a miracle? No, it's Merlin. Which causes the next issue, when it becomes clear this might well be a fluke and a one-off...

The fact this promises a sequel kind of suggests things end happily, and while children might not demand more as urgently as Meg demands a pony at every opportunity, a further book will be just as good fun. I've known from the past than Landman can write (http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/One_Shot_by_Tanya_Landman) and she's tackling a well-explored genre but doing it very nicely. Without seeing the back cover (or any evidence of this as yet on their website) I cannot state what the specialist publishers Barrington Stoke declare as the intended audience, but as always with them this is a dyslexia-friendly volume hiding in plain site, with all the appearance of a book for all. It's not taxing or particularly fresh, but it is certainly a warm little read.