A review by anna_catherman
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara

4.0

Thematically rich, with vibrant characters and wonderful writing, My Friend Flicka really deserves its reputation as a children's classic. This is one horse book I actually had never read before, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Written in the 40s, it reads like historical fiction now; the setting is well-established, but it takes a background role to the real storyline. It's a more mature, grown-up book than modern children's fiction---which is (mostly) a good thing. The storyline is both tragic and triumphant, with an overall slow but not plodding pace. The character development and lessons learned here are solid and strong without being overbearing or preachy.

(One small caveat/note for audiobook listeners: the narration is dreadfully slow. I listened on Audible and at 1.35x speed, it was still none too fast, and I upped it as high as 1.40-1.45x and still understood well.)