Book review: Pinkie Pie and the Rockin' Pony Party (G. M. Berrow; UK edition)

But isn't Pinkie a pop-up pony in her own right?

I'd been resisting the temptation to buy Orchard's UK edition of G. M. Berrow's second My Little Pony chapter book for some time. For one thing, the original US edition wasn't the best in the series. For another, its predecessor (Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell) had been disappointingly edited for the UK. But when the Worcester branch of Asda had the things on offer at £1.50, well under half RRP, curiosity got the better of me and I picked the book up.

There's not a lot to say, really – other than yes, I'm afraid this book does suffer a similar fate. The title change, though mildly irritating, is (I suppose) reasonable given that "Palooza" isn't a very familiar term on this side of the Atlantic. The colour change for the cover background is love it/hate it, and I can't decide which side of the line I fall. On the plus side, Orchard's book feels much more sturdily put together than the LB Kids original.

But the editing kills it. There's even a chapter title change: "Between a Rock Farm and a Hard Place" becomes "Hard Times on Rock Farm". Much worse, though, is the condensing of the book to remove several of the most amusing asides (how could they remove the Nine Inch Tails reference?!) and the continuation of the idiotic replacement of "everypony" with "everyone". If you don't want words like "everypony" then, well, don't read MLP books!

The better physical construction and the very low discount price apart, there is no reason to favour the UK edition. The US original is available from The Book Depository for just over £3.00, with free p&p. Buy that instead. If you want to support Berrow (and you should) then buy two copies. But not the Orchard one. Even if this isn't the best of Berrow's books, she deserves to have all her words read. This is simply not good enough, Orchard.