My Friend Flicka

The McLaughlin family owns and operates a ranch in Wyoming, with cattle and horses as their primary focus. A ranchers life is a hard life, up from dawn until after dark, caring for the land and the animals and eking out a living in an economic climate that doesn't favor them. Parents Rob and Nell are doing their best to keep the family afloat. The McLaughlin boys, Howard and Ken, spend their winters away at school and the summers helping on the ranch. Howard is level-headed and obedient (if a bit of a tattle-tale), while Ken is a dreamer. Rob McLaughlin despairs that any good will ever come from his youngest son Ken, but Nell is hopefully that if his greatest dream is realized that he will make the turn into adulthood. Nell begs her husband to make that dream come true - give Ken a colt. Ken is more specific - he wants Flicka, a yearling born of the wildest mare on the ranch. Whether Ken can win Flicka's love and tame her to be a useful mare is yet to be seen. O'Hara describes Wyoming, a rancher's life, the horses, and the family in painstaking detail, reeling her reader into the McLaughlin's world and making it feel incredibly real. The descriptions are a part of the lasting charm of this novel. Though the book is focused on Ken and Flicka, the other characters are explored and their true natures revealed: the reader will feel the nurturing and patience of Nell, experience the impatience of Rob while recognizing the yearning within him to connect to his family, roll their eyes at the impertinence of Howard while understanding the value he has to his father as a steady and reliable helper, and even get to know ranch hands Gus and Tim. As to Ken and Flicka, the author leaves no doubt of the importance of their relationship to both of their futures. My Friend Flicka is a beautiful novel that doesn't feel predictable, even if you've read it before.

On the Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming, between the World Wars, former Army captain Rob McLaughlin and his Eastern blue-blood wife, Nell, are raising two sons and an ever-growing herd of thoroughbred horses. Rob, a stern but loving father, doesn't know what to do with younger son Ken. The boy daydreams constantly, and for that reason just failed to be promoted at his boarding school. Why should Rob give small Ken a colt of his own, as he already has older son Howard, when Ken can't do anything that demonstrates he's responsible enough to be trusted? Yet a colt is what Ken wants more than anything else in the world. Until he finds out what happens to male horses when they're two years old - after which he decides he'd rather have a filly. Not just any filly, though. Flicka, born to the half-wild mare called Rocket. Flicka is faster already than her sire, the ranch's stud horse Banner, and Ken believes he'll be able to train Rocket's "bad blood" out of the yearling. Rob thinks his son is (to use his word for it) dumb, for a lot of reasons that now include choosing this filly that Rob is sure will turn out to be just as "loco" as her dam. Untrainable, and downright dangerous to those who try to handle her. This novel is a perfect example of the type of children's classic that, when read by adults, proves to have depths and layers its target audience never perceives. I know I read it as a young girl, and enjoyed it as both a good "horse story" and coming of age tale. But in reading it again now, I was amazed by the detailed and multi-faceted characters of Rob and Nell. Their love story is one of the most interesting I've read, because the author not only captures the tensions between these two very different people - she also captures the way that raising their children, who are (for better or worse!) a blending of those differences, affects their relationship. No wonder this book is still in print more than 60 years after it was first published. Simply wonderful!

I have had this book for so long, I can't remember the first time I read it or who gave it to me! It's a wonderful (if, perhaps, a bit dated) look at life on a Wyoming ranch in the earlier part of the 20th century. I highly recommend it, as well as Thunderhead and Green Grass of Wyoming to anyone who loves to read about ranch life, horses, or who just appreciates a well-written work of fiction!

Long relegated to the ranks of children's books, My Friend Flicka is indeed a wonderful story for a thoughtful child. I first read it at the age of 9, and have read it many, many more times throughout my life.As a 9-year-old, I loved the story of the sensitive boy, Ken, and his filly Flicka, who has questionable bloodlines and does not meet with the approval of Ken's stern rancher father, Rob McLaughlin. Boy and horse must surmount that initial disapproval and all sorts of other challenges as they struggle and grow together.But on another level entirely, My Friend Flicka is the story of a marriage that is so real, so adult, and so compelling, that any adult can appreciate the story. In a nutshell: Rob McLaughlin, a former captain in the Army (this was written shortly after World War II), is struggling to make a success of his Goose Bar Ranch, where he raises thoroughbreds in the rugged Wyoming countryside. His wife, Nell, is a blueblood from the East whose apparent fragility masks an inner strength that is Rob's lifeline. A delicate-looking beauty, Nell nevertheless can deliver foals at midnight, weather all the storms that ranching throws her way, and still feed a hungry crew of workers three times a day.Rob and Nell's marriage is strong and passionate. But their one bone of contention is their second son, Ken, a daydreamer who simply does not fit the mold of Rob's ideal son. Older boy Howard is the perfect McLaughlin: athletic, strong, personable, talented, outgoing. Ken is slight, small, quiet, sickly, and above all, a creative dreamer. But when he sets his sights on a horse of which his father strongly disapproves, Nell fiercely backs his choice. And Ken begins to grow as a man--in his own way and in his own speed. And Rob learns some strong lessons about being a man, a father, and a husband.If you have never read this book, or if it lives on your child's bookshelves, give yourself a treat. It's much more than you think.

i was 12 when i read my friend flicka and as i love horses i loved the book.i then went on and read my friend flicka 2,thunderhead 1,2 & 3 and the green grass of wyoming parts 1,2 & 3. after reading the whole series Ken grows up from being a mindless daydreamer to a young man with flicka by his side all the while.an excellent novel!!!well done!

Upon reading the first few chapters of this book, I thought it would be much like Steinbeck's The Red Pony, and was tempted to put it down. A person can only take so many horse - boy books after all. Once I had completed the book I was extremely glad that I had continued reading it. It was only slightly like The Red Pony. The book was emotional and caring. It captured young Ken McLaughlin's attitude toward life. Ken, a boy with his head often in the clouds, truly tried to please his rather domineering, yet loving father. The only thing that Ken wanted was a colt of his own. When he got "his Flicka", he loved her from the start. He matured as quickly as he could, so as to please his father. Ken also had to take care of his colt, which took away much of the time he would otherwise spend daydreaming. The adventures Ken has with Flicka are ones to be remembered. This is an emotional book, that will keep you either at the edge of your seat, or sprawled crying on the bed. Bring along a box of tissues if you're that type. You'll be sure to read it more than once