Thunderhead

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book! Very Intruiging
Review: Exciting, suspenseful, beautiful scenery described by the author.... and a wonderful human-horse bond. I loved this book so much I carried it everywhere with me when I was 14 years old. I couldn't wait to read the next one. I thought this one was even better than the first. Much better than Black Beauty which I thought was dark and sad.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: I loved reading these books as a pre-teen, and again as an
adult when I discovered they were written on a ranch next to
the one I lived on in southeast Wyoming. The author uses
real locations and real situations (the crater doesn't
exist except in her imagination, but almost everything else
is true to life), which some might think is a bit intense for
young readers, but I find that children are more than capable
of understanding and enjoying these tales. I must correct the
reviewer who spoke of Anasazi in the books- they never made it
that far north, and I don't remember any references to them
that Mary O'Hara made either. Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Crow
Nations were all represented in this area. Mary O'Hara does a
wonderful job of using her real life experiences to make a
series of books that allow us to share her pioneer life.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: I loved THUNDERHEAD. It is powerful and moving,and Ken matured a lot! Thunderhead is such a wild, hideous colt in the beginning, but he turns into a handsome colt--and grows wilder. Ken fears he won't be a racer. Thunderhead is always escaping to dominate a herd of wild mares. He fights with the legendary Albino and becomes strong and fierce. The ending is..a surprise.

Rating:
Summary: A Fabulous Sequel to Flicka
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Thunderhead
Review: This is a great book and I would recomend it for many people.
Thunderheads mother was Flika, Ken Mclaughtins first filly. Thunderhead was the first white horse born on the Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming. Thunderhead jumps fences and climbes mountains. He finds a passage way to a valley that Ken later names Valley of the Eagles. This leads to an old albino stailion, Thunderhead gets a few nips and hoof marks before he is able to get out of the valley and return to the ranch. Thunderhead adventually goes back to the valley and kills the albino staillion. He adeopts the mares that the albino had once cared for. Thunderhead retutns home and is caught by Kens dad Captain Mclaughtin. Thunderhead is sceduled to be in a race because he is very fast and powerful. Thunderhead starts the race but looses his themper and bucks his rider off, the jumps a fence. The Goose Bar Ranch already has a stallion, Banner. Ken, knowing he can't keep his horse locks, Thunderhead in the Valley of the Eagles. Anyone who likes horses and is in middle school or above should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Wonderful Book! Very Intruiging
Review: Thunderhead is definately a must read! Ken's favorite horse Flicka gives birth to a white colt, it's a throwback, the only white horse on the ranch. And, on top of that, it looks like an ugly goblin and "scrabbles" instead of runs, when Ken wanted it ever so badly to be a champion racehorse. After a long time the horse grows into a beautiful, muscular horse and earns the name Thunderhead. Now the only problem is, his EXTREMELY bad temper and wild spirit. Throughout this book, Ken tries to gain the horses trust, and trains it to become a racehorse. And, you'll have to read the rest of the book to find out what happens. I recommend this book to all readers above 4th or 5th grade!

Rating:
Summary: a misleading summary
Review: When you read Thunderhead you can take a vicarious trip to the Native American country of the Southwest. There is interesting lore about the Anasazi, the Navaho, new archeological methods, and more. There is also an interesting discussion of the new research into cannibalism among the ancient Anasazi. Were they cannibals, or did the cannibals migrate to Anasazi country from Mexico? The descriptions of the country were very vivid; I have not read a better description of a flash flood. And there's a mystery, besides.