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Flash of Phantom Canyon
Gabriel has to know! Who were his parents? What happened to them? How did he come to live with Lars and the Captain in the wilds of Idaho?
For Gabriel, this is a time of discovery - and danger. Not only must he find out who he is. He must make a choice, too.
It is through his love and care of the wild horse, Flash, that Gabriel realizes at last that his choice is not between white and Indian. It is between right and wrong.
For Gabriel, this is a time of discovery - and danger. Not only must he find out who he is. He must make a choice, too.
It is through his love and care of the wild horse, Flash, that Gabriel realizes at last that his choice is not between white and Indian. It is between right and wrong.
- GenresHorsesHistorical Fiction
149 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1963
2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 24, 2017
This is one of the few young people's horse books that I still absolutely love.
The main character is this Indian boy, (Native American, not from India) who lives with two grubby old trappers and loves horses. He has a particular favorite horse that he raised from a foal, named Flash. As times change, a family of Scottish settlers comes to live nearby, and the boy becomes friends with their oldest daughter. The mother has no problem with this, and treats him like one of her own, feeding him scones and fussing over him. But the father doesn't trust him a bit and hates Indians. When the boy receives a set of beaded buckskin clothes, just like what his mother would have made, he is thrilled to go and show his friend! But the father doesn't recognize him straight off and shoots him. Angry at such treatment, will he be there for his friends when they need him desperately?
For such an old book, this is very sympathetic to the plight of Natives and half breeds. On top of that, it is a really fun coming of age adventure, and a great horse book!
The main character is this Indian boy, (Native American, not from India) who lives with two grubby old trappers and loves horses. He has a particular favorite horse that he raised from a foal, named Flash. As times change, a family of Scottish settlers comes to live nearby, and the boy becomes friends with their oldest daughter. The mother has no problem with this, and treats him like one of her own, feeding him scones and fussing over him. But the father doesn't trust him a bit and hates Indians. When the boy receives a set of beaded buckskin clothes, just like what his mother would have made, he is thrilled to go and show his friend! But the father doesn't recognize him straight off and shoots him. Angry at such treatment, will he be there for his friends when they need him desperately?
For such an old book, this is very sympathetic to the plight of Natives and half breeds. On top of that, it is a really fun coming of age adventure, and a great horse book!
April 15, 2024
This is at least as much history lesson as it is story, but an engaging history lesson, specifically about the history of Native American/white settler relations in what would later become Idaho in the 1830s-50s. For all my Oregon Trail playing, I didn't actually know as much as I thought, so the timeline & map at the beginning were helpful. It's also a good lesson about prejudice.
It is definitely also a horse story, with plenty of focus on spotting wild mustangs (including a few chapters from equine perspective), rearing young Flash by bottle-feeding him after his mother dies, and relying on him as a fleet but steady mount a few years later. Not an immediate favorite one since it shares so much of the limited page space with other topics, but still good.
I'm surprised to find that Ranney apparently only wrote one novel? That's unusual for a children's book author of this era, especially one who not only wrote about a horse but had it picked up by Scholastic & published in multiple editions.
It is definitely also a horse story, with plenty of focus on spotting wild mustangs (including a few chapters from equine perspective), rearing young Flash by bottle-feeding him after his mother dies, and relying on him as a fleet but steady mount a few years later. Not an immediate favorite one since it shares so much of the limited page space with other topics, but still good.
I'm surprised to find that Ranney apparently only wrote one novel? That's unusual for a children's book author of this era, especially one who not only wrote about a horse but had it picked up by Scholastic & published in multiple editions.
February 3, 2017
Young orphaned Gabriel falls in love with the colt he names Flash at first sight. Through circumstances, he lucks into ownership of the young horse and works hard to raise him, forging friends along the way. We grow with Gabriel as he learns more about himself, his history, his horse, and his friends.
Agnes Ranney chose to use her novel, Flash of Phanton Canyon, to attack the root of unfair prejudice at a level that children could understand. It fits with the story and is not a strong-arm approach, so it works. I thought this was a good book, but not great, mostly because there is a lot of content crammed into an elementary level story, too much to really cover any one topic well. As a result its a cursory exploration of all of them, which is fine for the grade level this is written for.
Agnes Ranney chose to use her novel, Flash of Phanton Canyon, to attack the root of unfair prejudice at a level that children could understand. It fits with the story and is not a strong-arm approach, so it works. I thought this was a good book, but not great, mostly because there is a lot of content crammed into an elementary level story, too much to really cover any one topic well. As a result its a cursory exploration of all of them, which is fine for the grade level this is written for.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews