Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, 1961 Doubleday Press

 
     Billy Colman is a 10 year-old living with his family in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. All Billy wants are two 'coon hounds; the family can't afford the dogs so he works odd jobs for two years and finally arranges with Grandpa to buy the dogs through a catalogue.
     When the puppies arrive Billy is the proud owner of a female hound he names Little Ann and a male hound who he names Old Dan. As puppies the duo scare away a mountain lion they run into in the mountains and the trio forms a strange and unique bond.
     As they grow and Billy trains them Little Ann and Old Dan gain a reputation in the area - Ann is small but brilliant and Dan is doggedly determined. They're challenged by the neighboring Pritchard boys to find a mysterious 'ghost coon'. The Pritchards' dogs fight with Billy's hounds and in the process Rubin, one of the boys, tries to kill Little Ann and Old Dan and is injured when he accidentally falls on Billy's axe .
     The Pritchard boy's injury haunts Billy and to cheer him up his family enters the dogs in a competition. Little Ann immediately wins the beauty contest and they are entered into the Championship where the dogs tree three 'coons, but as they begin the chase for the winning racoon a blizzard sets in. Billy, his father, and his grandfather finally find the dogs half-frozen with a 'coon up a tree.
     Billy and his family are ecstatic when Little Ann and Old Dan win the championship with its $300 jackpot. They return home and continue hunting in the mountains. When Old Dan stands between Billy and a mountain lion the Colman family must deal with the reality of a hunting dog's life. Little Ann likewise is affected and Billy is reminded of a native legend of the Red Fern planted by angels.
     Where the Red Fern Grows is told by an adult Billy reflecting on his childhood. Readers will follow in Billy's joys and sorrows as he fights for what he wants, achieves his dream, and deals with the reality of owning a working dog. Rawls's novel is ideal for later elementary readers, though readers of all ages can enjoy his plainspoken, down-home language.