Thunderhead

The sequel to My Friend Flicka, Ken McLaughlin is 2 years older and Flicka is pregnant with her first foal. The family believes they know what comes next - a beautiful sorrel colt out of Banner, who will have Flicka's gentle temperament and the perfect Polo confirmation. But Ken wants a race horse, he dreams of racing him on the track and bringing fortune to his family after so many years of struggle. And so Ken, as hard-headed as his father Rob, carries a secret that will soon be revealed. The result is an ugly white colt who is written off as a "Goblin," though Ken successfully petitions his mother for a better name - Thunderhead. As Thunderhead grows, rapidly, the family starts to think he'll grow into his name yet. Still, the colt has a stormy path to follow, and Ken must find a way to "take it." A gorgeous novel that continues to bring us the combination of beauty, fierceness, and heartbreak that is a rancher's life, O'Hara has outdone herself. This book is not short, but is begs to be read in one sitting - staying up all night, on pins and needles because Ken is a sweet boy that must grow up even though we don't want to see him become hardened like his father. Surprisingly (something I'd forgotten in the years since my first read through), the book is as focused on Ken's parents, Rob and Nell, as it is on Ken and his horses. I think that's a bit of the story I probably paid more attention to this time around, and can certainly appreciate the nuances of better as an adult. Howard, Ken's older brother, continues to be a side character brought in when Ken needs sibling support (or torment). Since Ken is away at school often, Ken's parents can keep the narrative of the horse going (though O'Hara never hesitates to just switch over to the horses' points of view, sharing with us things none of the humans could possibly know about their lives and trials out in the acres and acres of land they roam). I was enthralled by it all, including the surprise appearance of a second foal, Touch and Go, who was absolutely delightful and a nice break from the heavier stories of the other horses. Thunderhead is a fascinating horse, and this is an engrossing novel. It's also Ken's coming of age story, moreso than My Friend Flicka though he's continued his growth throughout the series. He's such a precocious boy, and his relationship with his parents and his brother continues to grow and mature as he himself does. Above all, though, his love for the horses shines through at all times, and is like sunshine in the rain.

I reread "Thunderhead" after a hiatus of forty years, and was surprised that I enjoyed it even more as an adult. I had to wonder how I made it through the parts about Rob and Nell's financial difficulties and rocky marriage when I was a teen-ager, but I know I read them because I can still remember details and characters after all these years. The first book of the trilogy, "My Friend Flicka" was never a favorite of mine, and the third book, "Green Grass of Wyoming" concentrates more on teen-age romance than horses. But "Thunderhead" is a perfect balance between the story of a boy's difficult coming-of-age and the wilder saga of his horse. The boy, Ken grows up on a horse ranch in Wyoming during the Great Depression. His mare, Flicka gives birth during a thunderstorm to an ugly white foal that Ken's mother, Nell names 'Goblin.' Nell has the gift of giving animals their true names, but Ken begs her to come up with something grander for Flicka's colt: "There was an ache in Nell's heart. She looked at the foal--that stubbornness, the mulish head, that stupidity, trying to nurse on every horse in sight, not knowing his own mother; and its anger--it ran across the corral head down, kicking out with one hind leg--it seemed full of hatred." Finally, she looks to the sky for inspiration and names the white foal, 'Thunderhead.' Ken struggles to raise Goblin/Thunderhead as a race horse, but the white colt forges a stranger destiny for himself in the mountains of Wyoming's Neversummer Range, where his grandsire, the savage Albino rules a stolen band of mares. I was amazed to learn that Mary O'Hara's Wyoming trilogy was a work of fiction. It just seemed so real to me. Now I know that parts of it are strongly autobiographical. In fact, this author published at least three non-fiction, autobiographical works: "Novel-in-the-Making" (1954); "Wyoming Summer" (1963) based on her diary of sixteen years; and an autobiography, published posthumously, "Flicka's Friend" (1982). Don't listen to anyone who tries to label "Thunderhead" as a work of juvenile fiction. It is much more than that. The birth and death scenes are intensely lyrical, and there is a core of untamed wildness in all scenes away from the ranch and the racetrack. Here is the beauty and the cruelty and the vastness of the American West without the usual stereotypes.

I loved reading these books as a pre-teen, and again as anadult when I discovered they were written on a ranch next tothe one I lived on in southeast Wyoming. The author usesreal locations and real situations (the crater doesn'texist except in her imagination, but almost everything elseis true to life), which some might think is a bit intense foryoung readers, but I find that children are more than capableof understanding and enjoying these tales. I must correct thereviewer who spoke of Anasazi in the books- they never made itthat far north, and I don't remember any references to themthat Mary O'Hara made either. Cheyenne, Arapaho, and CrowNations were all represented in this area. Mary O'Hara does awonderful job of using her real life experiences to make aseries of books that allow us to share her pioneer life.

The second in the Flicka trilogy, "Thunderhead" is a masterpiece of its genre. Like "My Friend Flicka," it isn't a children's book per se. It's a dark book, really, reflecting a lot of harsh reality, from Rob McLaughlin's ongoing and desperate struggle to keep his Goose Bar Ranch from financial ruin, to the constant and sometimes overwhelming battle to survive against the harsh Wyoming wildnerness, to a son's increasingly rebellious need to prove himself as a man.Ken McLaughlin has matured greatly in this book. He is no longer the quiet dreamer afraid of his own shadow, and particularly of his father. But his thoughtful sensitivity is still evident, and when his beloved mare Flicka gives birth to her first foal, Ken must strain all his inner resources to fight for her and her baby.The foal, Thunderhead, is a throwback to a wild strain that Rob has tried for years to breed out of his thoroughbred stock. Pure white and headstrong, Thunderhead is a direct descendant of a renegade stallion that sired a line of untameable horses. Rob takes one look at the colt, and wants him sold, gelded, or worse. But Ken loves Flicka's son, and battles to train him as a racehorse. As father and son face off in love and fury, each refuses to budge. And gentle Nell, long the backbone of the family, cannot help this time. She is facing the first real crisis in her marriage--one that threatens to tear the family apart as much as the standoff over Thunderhead.I highly recommend this book for adults who love a good, old-fashioned adventure with lots of action and scenery, and lots of good, meaty characterizations. In my view, the book is not appropriate for young children. It can be graphic and scary, but an older child will love the adventure.

I loved this book and its predecessor, "My Friend Flicka", when I was little and I recently rediscovered and re-read them. Like "National Velvet", the story here goes beyond the wonderful horses and tells the story of a family in turmoil, and a woman (in this case, Nell, Ken's mother) trying to discover who she is and what she wants out of the life she's made with her family. This is a much grittier book than "Flicka", both for the horses and the people who struggle through it, but it is a great tale, beautifully told. I've often thought that some of these family horse books and the strong women in them have influenced a lot of the little girls who read them in ways they may never have noticed.

When I was thirteen years old I carried this book and its sequel with me everywhere I went until they were read. I cherished every page and loved this story of the wild, goblin colt who blossomed into a gorgeous white stallion. This story was beautiful and precious. I wish I could read it for the first time all over again. My Friend Flicka was wonderful, but each book in the trilogy got better and better. When I was thirteen, I absolutely loved these books and still fondly recall reading them in the backseat of my Mom's car as she carted us kids around from activity to the store and home again...