My Little Pony: Meet Starlight Glimmer

My Little Pony: Meet Starlight Glimmer by Magnolia Belle

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This earlier reader is okay as it focuses on a single pony and is very briefly summarized, however, it jumps from one part of the story to the next very quickly due to both the format and just how much it's abbreviated to keep the story short. If you wanted to follow events from this short story in the TV series, you would need to watch several episodes to make sense and follow everything correctly.

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My Little Pony: The Movie (Pony Pirate Party!)

My Little Pony: The Movie (Pony Pirate Party!) by Magnolia Belle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This glosses over the beginning of My Little Pony: The Movie to focus on adventures with the pirate airship. Don't expect to see the end of the story, as these bit of adventure befriending a rather odd crew is the entire point of this picture book. Of course, Tempest is still hot on their trail, not that you'll see how that ends in this installment.

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My Little Pony: Pony a Page

My Little Pony: Pony a Page by Hasboro

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Technically think this is considered more of a magazine than a book. Each page features a new pony and facts about that character and the pony type except for some pages that are marked to cut out for the "puzzle" to make a giant poster. My kids never cut out the pages, though perhaps that's for the best so everything is still in one piece.

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My Little Pony: 5-Minute Stories

My Little Pony: 5-Minute Stories by Hasbro

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This follows the stories from the TV series, Friendship is Magic told in Pinkie Pie scrapbook style. According to the first pages, the book itself is for Flurry Heart. Stories included are:

The Royal Wedding, aka the Craziest Wedding Ever!
Foal-Sitting 101, aka Best Workout Ever!
All About Alicorns, aka Horns + Wings = Magic!
Cutie Mark Magic, aka Why is My Flank Blank?
Aaving the Crystal Empire, aka Flurry Heart's Parents Are Awesome!
Hearth's Warming Eve, aka Keep Your Hoovsies Warm!
Nightmare Night, aka Spooooooky!
Equestria aka Land of Harmony!
The Crsytalling aka Flurry Heart Goes Boom!
The Magic of Friendship aka Friends Are Awesome!

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My Little Pony: A New Generation

My Little Pony: A New Generation (2021)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This takes place after the events of Friendship is Magic, Equestria Girls, and The Movie, though it is unclear how far in the future precisely. Somewhere along the way, the 3 pony type not only ended up divided, and they each gained their own crystal symbol that represented their kind and could be combined to represent all ponies. Alicorns also have apparently ceased to exist, leaving some curiosity as to how pegasi came to have a royal family, but not earth ponies or unicorns. There is also no mention of Canterlot or the Crystal Castle anywhere in this movie, yet we have clearly separate towns for the different ponies and a train station under Zephyr High that has a stained glass window similar to those in Canterlot Castle. It leaves a lot of gaps in the narrative though it's clear from the stained glass window, the figurines, and the history stories that it's meant to build on that history. Despite this, the story is cute as the ponies find unlikely friends and allies as they try to improve things for every pony. 

Equestria Girls Special 4: Forgotten Friendship

Equestria Girls Special 4: Forgotten Friendship (2018)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The EG saga continues as Wallflower decides she's tired of being invisible and happens to find a rare piece of Equestrian magic that can change that... or make it true for others as well anyways. Sunset Shimmer not only learns another facet of "being good," but finally confronts Princess Celestia herself and ends up forging a new friendship with Trixie, among other students. Trixie is one character who has always sort of annoyed me, though she did befriend Starlight Glimmer in Equestria and we've now seen Starlight and Sunset as friends thanks to the previous EG specials. Of course it wouldn't be any sort of tie in to the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic franchise without the "mane six" and friendship saving the day. Still, I actually like how Sunset has turned out overall, so this was a fun piece to see her in both worlds interacting with the princesses and Canterlot High.

Equestria Girls Special 1-3: Magical Movie Night

Equestria Girls Special 1-3: Magical Movie Night (2017)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a collection of the first 3 short specials that happen in fairly consecutive order.

Special 1: Dance Magic
Special 2: Movie Magic
Special 3: Mirror Magic

It appears to start fairly close to the the end of the fourth movie after they've saved Camp Everfree from being bought by Filthy Rich and are now raising money to fix up the camp grounds themselves. This leads to a chain of events that even brings back Sunset Shimmer as a pony when she meets Starlight Glimmer for the first time. Juniper Montage appears to be the main opponent through two clips, while the first briefly brings Crystal Prep back into the picture. The geodes from Camp Everfree also come into play, which also helps with the timeline since those aren't acquired until the end of the fourth movie to begin with. It does lend some question as to if Starlight may be the one to come to Canterlot High in future movies to help the girls rather than having two Twilights on the scene. Twilight still apparently has some place however as she is still Starlight's mentor, and in some ways also Sunset's as they still correspond regularly through the journals.

My Little Pony: The Movie (Dive into Adventure)

My Little Pony: The Movie: Dive into Adventure) by Rachael Upton

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is part of the story from the new My Little Pony: The Movie. My daughter loves the TV series and enjoyed the movie. The sea ponies were a special highlight, so finding a book at the school book fair that focused on them and came with a Pinkie Pie sea pony figurine was an immediate win in her book. Large artwork consistent with the movie make this an attractive library addition for any young MLP fan.

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My Little Pony: The Movie

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


While the big changes in the pony artwork annoyed me at first, the overall story was adorable and the music was fantastic, making for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Nana and I took my daughter for a special girl's night out, and all of us were happy we went. This is one that will definitely be joining both our soundtrack and movie collections for the kids. The new characters, while mostly not ponies, are interesting and provide a mix into the series that it otherwise doesn't have much of with the more limited normal cast of characters from the TV series (though that has branched out more recently with the buffalo, dragons, and yaks).

My Little Pony: The Movie (Friends & Foes)

My Little Pony: The Movie (Friends & Foes) by Hasbro

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This is a good introduction to the new characters in the upcoming movie. It also seems to give away much of what is likely to happen. One of the names wasn't entirely clear how to pronounce, so we'll see how close I got when the movie comes out. The sea ponies are, of course, a big hit. I remember them being popular in the original series when I was a child, though they weren't nearly as frilly. My daughter was thrilled to see the new art, so of course she's already elicited a promise from Nana to see the new movie when it comes out and carries this book around with her.

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Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree (Save Our Camp!)

Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree (Save Our Camp!) by Louise Alexander

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


A little wordy for small children, but still a good kid's book. The major downside is that if your child loves the Equestria Girls movies like mine does, they will know that the book is not following the correct sequence of events. Enjoyable on it's own, but places things majorly out of order and even adds some things in that didn't exist at all (like the discussion to use magic or not at the beginning of the book when the girls didn't even know they would gain enhanced abilities at camp).

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Equestria Girls 4: Legend of Everfree

Equestria Girls 4: Legend of Everfree (2016)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The girls go on a camping trip expecting to be far away from anything magical. This time, we don't even see a tail end appearance of the original Twilight. All the girls focused on this round or originally from this same reality. There is, however, hints of more power seeping out from Equestria and into this world. This is proven even more with the discovery of the crystals and the girl's new enhanced powers. It wouldn't be an Equestria Girls adventure without the Mane Six ponying up to save the day.

My Little Pony: Ponyville Reading Adventures

My Little Pony: Ponyville Reading Adventures by Hasbro

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Meet the Ponies of Ponyville
This is basically a level 1 passport introduction to all the main characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Hearts & Hooves
Based on the episode from the TV series, this is when the Cutie Mark Crusaders get it in their heads that setting Cheerilee up with Big Mac is a great idea. Only, it doesn't turn out so great in the end. Another cute and simple level 1 passport story for kids.

Holly, Jolly Harmony
Another level 1 passports story based on a TV episode. This one is about the Hearth's Warming Eve origin story as it's told by the ponies in a theater style. Especially a good story around the holidays with all the snow and good feelings flying around.

Ponies Love Pets!
We had already read this as an individual book prior to acquiring this collection. It's a level 1 passports book focusing on the pony's pets.

Meet the Princess of Friendship
This is another one we already had in individual format prior to this purchase. It has since been passed on to her cousins as we don't need two copies. It was well loved in advance however as Twilight is an obvious favorite and focus of this story, given the title.

Power Ponies to the Rescue!
Based on the Power Ponies TV episode, this is the only level 2 passports book out of the bunch. Printed in more of a comic style to match the comic book the group is dragged into thanks to Spike's reading adventure. It's another cute story with a fun twist. A little more wordy than the others for the level adjustment, but not by much.

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My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie Keeps a Secret

My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie Keeps a Secret by Magnolia Belle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Based on the S05E19 - The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows. Pinkie has to keep a rather big secret, especially from Twilight. Not exactly an easy task for the usually hyper pony. Another overly simplified story by virtue of it being a level 1 passport to reading book. Good tie in for young children who already love MLP and may be familiar with it so it's even easier for them to follow along.

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My Little Pony: We Like Spike!

My Little Pony: We Like Spike! by Jennifer Fox

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A very simple learning to read book focusing on Spike from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The descriptions and general wording is very short and to the point for each page. There is honestly more picture than story to this book. Not that it's a bad thing for level 1 passport to reading book. Still, it's only likely to be of interest if your child either likes MLP and/or dragons.

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Equestria Girls 3: Friendship Games

Equestria Girls 3: Friendship Games (2015)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This movie focuses mostly on the human world with only references to Sunset Shimmer trying to contact Twilight Sparkle through her magic book for advice as the Friendship Games approach. Meanwhile, the human world's Twilight is on the scent of the magic at Canterlot High, though she doesn't know that's what it is. Caving to peer pressure and not yet having learned the lessons of friendship the Equestrian Twilight has, this world's Twilight has a lot of learning to do in the games. Principle Cinch is easy to dislike, as are Twilight's fellow students until the end of the movie. Guess nearly having your world destroyed because of you're own arrogance and bullying kinda sets things in perspective. Other than glimpses of Equestria through the portals, we don't really see any of our favorite ponies until Twilight shows up as a credit bonus, meeting the alternate her for the first time. It would be interesting to see how this meeting played out instead of just the shocked acknowledgement we get from the two Twilights while the rest of the friends continue on with their picnic as if nothing is up at all. It would be amusing if at some point all the ponies and human counterparts for the core group were to meet up now that the two Twilight Sparkles have seen each other. Curious that there has been no mention or sighting of another Sunset Shimmer yet.

My Little Pony: Magic Princess

My Little Pony: Magic Princess (Android)

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars


Based on the most recent release, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this game introduces the core 6 ponies and follows their quests as they happen in the series (Tree of Harmony, Nightmare Moon, Changelings, etc.). There is even a mini game attachment that is a sort of mesh of Equestria Girls and Magic Piano. The catch is that there are 3 different currency systems, and two of them are rather hard to come by making earning those pieces for the more expensive items in the game a rather painful procedure. If you don't care about finishing things quickly or potentially getting all the ponies, then it's a fine distraction for a little while. Supposedly, it does not transfer over to new devices well if at all, so spending actual money to buy those more rare ponies and items wouldn't likely be advisable. Entertaining, especially if you like MLP, but not worth getting too invested in.

Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks

Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks (2014)

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Twilight has to find a way back to Canterlot High to the The Rainbooms before the Sirens take over the school and steal all the magic. Meanwhile, The Rainbooms are not doing so great proving how strong the "magic of friendship" is when they're nearly at each other's own throats. Surprisingly, it's Sunset Shimmer who steps in and points out what is really going on. An interesting twist given her obvious role as the villain in the first film and the obvious ostracizing going on with the rest of the school. Curious to know what "element" she's supposed to represent and how that element will be represented in Equestria now since Sunset Shimmer obviously hasn't had an actual "human half" show up (though we do finally see Twilight Sparkle's human counterpart at the end of the credits for this film).

My Little Pony: Ponies Love Pets!

My Little Pony: Ponies Love Pets! by Emily C. Hughes

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another basic learning to read book that Mercy picked out on one of our shopping trips. This one focuses not just on the current main My Little Ponies, but on their pets. Small wonder that it's a current hit with her love of animals. Not much interest still in actually "reading" the story after one or two times a day, but she does love pointing to the animals or trying to describe the pictures (play, read, etc) when there are activities going on. A good way to make many uses of the same book as a child grows into it.

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My Little Pony: Meet the Princess of Friendship

My Little Pony: Meet the Princess of Friendship by Lucy Rosen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Given my daughter and I share a love of horses, this was naturally the first book of the "passport to reading" series that she picked out. The simplicity of the story and the added bonus of identifying pictures with specific words makes it easy for her to get involved in the story and pick something out of every page. Add to that a love for the subject of the story and you have a winner for the munchkin.

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