'A red pony colt was looking at him out of the stall. Its tense ears were forward & a light of disobedience was in its eyes. Its coat was rough & thick as an Airedale's fur & its mane was long & tangled'. Jody Tiflin is a ten-year-old boy living on his father's ranch. One day his father brings home a small pony. He's Jody's if the boy will learn to feed clean stable & care for him. But Jody learns through the colt & through his other adventures on the ranch that with responsibility can come sacrifice & pain. Joy may swiftly turn to tragedy. & he also discover that the simplicities of childhood must eventually turn into the complications of adulthood. The Red Pony" is Steinbeck's brilliant & sometimes brutal celebration of adolescence."