The Red Pony, John Steinbeck, 1937

Steinbeck, a Nobel Prize winning author, writes four “tales” about “the little boy Jody,” a 10-year-old child growing up far from neighbors and town on a ranch near Salinas, California in the late 19^th century. Jody, his parents Carl Tiflin and his wife, the ranch hand Billy Buck, and his grandfather are the only characters in these tales—the death of Jody’s red pony Gabilan, the appearance/disappearance of Gaetano and the horse Easter, the death of Nellie in the birth of a new colt and the visit by the wagon train leading and Indian-fighting grandfather. The stories portray the growing up process of a young boy, the dynamics of father and son and other family relationships and the harsh reality of the American West. Steinbeck’s occasionally florid style doesn’t interfere with his skill as a storyteller whose attention to detail allows him to find the universal in the specific.