GraceAnne DeCandido (Booklist, Nov. 1, 2003 (Vol. 100, No. 5))
An exuberant tall tale with an irresistible African American heroine. The night Thunder Rose was born to her parents, the thunder gave her her name, and she rolled the lightning into a ball and put it on her shoulder. By the next day, she was lifting a whole cow for a drink of milk. At two, she wove a pile of scrap iron into a thunderbolt; at twelve, she invented barbed wire, stopped a stampede, and captured a band of desperadoes. Thunder Rose even turns away a tornado with her song and the depth of her "fortunate feeling." The watercolor, oil, and pencil illustrations capture the Wild West vistas, the textures of grass and homespun cloth, and the character's personalities, even that of Tater, Rose's trusty steer. Best of all, however, is Rose herself, the color of polished mahogany, with enough sass and savvy to overcome any obstacle. A terrific read-aloud. Category: Books for the Young--Fiction. 2003, Harcourt/Silver Whistle, $16. K-Gr. 3.

Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature)
An uplifting tale for Black History Month is Thunder Rose by Maryland author Jerdine Nolen. Born the night of a fearsome storm, baby Rose amazes her parents with powerful snores that rival the "booming thunder." No shrinking violet, the newborn soon grows into a youngun' capable of putting up fences, subduing stampedes and inventing barbed wire. Why, Rose even tames a tornado and brings a soothing rain to her parched homeland. In her author's note, Nolen mentions her desire to write a black folktale that extols the "bold, brave, and adventurous spirits" that settled the Old West following the Civil War and freedom from slavery. With watercolors and pencil, Kadir Nelson captures this same can-do spirit in Rose as she strides the plains with her thunderous song. 2003, Harcourt, $16.00. Ages 4 to 8.

Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz (Children's Literature)
This original tale of a larger-than-life cowgirl heroine was constructed by the author to create a black folk tale of the Old West not "out of sorrow" as some from the past, but "out of love and joy." Born on a night of thunder and lightning, Thunder Rose soon shows that she can perform amazing feats of strength, bending metal to make her own thunderbolt, herding cattle, taming a gang of desperadoes. When drought threatens and she is challenged by a storm, she uses her power of song to "touch the heart of the clouds." Told with humor and a Western twang, Thunder Rose's story puts her up with Paul Bunyan and other legendary heroes. Nelson depicts her as a sassy, energetic youngster in oil, watercolor and pencil naturalistic illustrations, often seen from ground level to add stature to her adventures. Both people and cows are treated with respect; the "special effects" of the twister add real excitement. Perhaps we can expect further adventures in the future from this newly created folk heroine with genuine eye appeal. 2003, Silver Whistle/Harcourt, $16.00. Ages 5 to 8.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 18))
Nolen and Nelson offer a smaller, but no less gifted counterpart to Big Jabe (2000) in this new tall tale. Shortly after being born one stormy night, Rose thanks her parents, picks a name, and gathers lightning into a ball-all of which is only a harbinger of feats to come. Decked out in full cowboy gear and oozing self-confidence from every pore, Rose cuts a diminutive, but heroic figure in Nelson's big, broad Western scenes. Though she carries a twisted iron rod as dark as her skin and ropes clouds with fencing wire, Rose overcomes her greatest challenge-a pair of rampaging twisters-not with strength, but with a lullaby her parents sang. After turning tornadoes into much-needed rain clouds, Rose rides away, "that mighty, mighty song pressing on the bull's-eye that was set at the center of her heart." Throughout, she shows a reflective bent that gives her more dimension than most tall-tale heroes: a doff of the Stetson to her and her creators. (author's note) 2003, Silver Whistle/Harcourt, $16.00. Category: Picture book. Ages 7 to 9. Starred Review. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, January 2004 (Vol. 57, No. 5))
Nolen sets this original tall tale in the American West of legend and lore, but her protagonist isn’t Pecos Bill or Davy Crockett but the African-American Thunder Rose, "first child born free and easy to Jackson and Millicent MacGruder." The notable heroine comes into the world in the midst of a thunder and lightning storm: "I am right partial to the name Rose," she announces, after rolling some lightning into a ball and setting it on her shoulders. In response to her forceful personality, her parents call her Thunder Rose, and the child lives up to her name: lifting cows, breaking steers, inventing barbed wire, bringing rain, and taming tornadoes. The story is crowded with incident, so much so that some of the more important events lose impact in the crush. Still, Nolen’s exaggerated prose sets the tone, and if the text is overly lengthy, Nelson’s oil, watercolor, and pencil illustrations are bold enough to hold viewers. The enormity of Rose’s personality and the enormity of the frontier are reflected in the full-page and full-spread compositions, most of which are dominated by the intrepid cowgirl, complete with chaps and cowgirl hat. Nolen’s heroine is larger than life, and Nelson gives her her visual due: Thunder Rose ambles across the pages mounted atop her giant steer, Tater, right into tall-tale herstory. Bits of pen-and-ink spot art add thematic touches to pages of text, and the palette (sunny sky blues and dusty range browns) adds to the western feel. Introduce her along with Isaacs’ Swamp Angel (BCCB 11/94) for a strong-woman duet. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, Silver Whistle/Harcourt, 32p, $16.00. Grades 3-5.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2004)
This fast-paced tall tale depicts the feats of the chocolate-colored heroine, Thunder Rose. Like her male counterparts, Paul Bunyan and John Henry, Rose is born strong and, from the beginning, does big things: heads off a stampede, calms windstorms, and turns a tornado into a gentle rain. Dynamic, oversize illustrations capture the energy of Rose's rollicking adventures. Category: Picture Books. 2003, Harcourt/Silver Whistle, 32pp, $16.00. Ages 4 to 9. Rating: 3: Recommended, satisfactory in style, content, and/or illustration.

Leslie Dempsey (The Lorgnette - Heart of Texas Reviews (Vol. 16, No. 4))
This is a tall tale written about a small black girl who is born during a thunderstorm and becomes Thunder Rose, cowgirl heroine of the West. It is written in true folktale style, where the impossible happens. The language in this folktale is outstanding and would be a great book to use for that purpose. The children will love the outlandish things she does just as they do Pecos Bill. The illustrations are wonderful and add to this colorful story. When read to some first-grade classes, too many explanations had to be made, and they lost the flow of the story. For this reason, it is recommended for third grade and above. Fiction. Grades 3-6. 2003, Silver Whistle, Unpaged., $16.00. Ages 8 to 12.