Rawls, Wilson. Where The Red Fern Grows. NY: Curtis, 1961. 212 pages. (Fiction)
This story takes place in the dark hills and river bottoms of Cherokee country. A boy named Billy lived in a small house out in the country. Billy had always wanted a dog before so he could hunt and play with it. One day, Billy saw a crumpled up newspaper on the ground and picked it up. Inside of it was an add for two hound pups for sale, only fifty dollars. That whole summer Billy sold coonskins, sold minnows to the local fishermen, and helped his grandfather in his little store. Billy had finally gotten the fifty dollars and was ready to get his hound pups, but there was only one problem, the pups were all the way in Kentucky. Billy asked if his grandfather would take him there, but he said no, so Billy set off on his own to get his pups. After getting his pups he then brought them back to his house and hunted with them and trained them. He has been hunting coons for many months and one day Billy’s grandfather came to Billy with an add about a coon hunting contest. It was a test of courage for both Billy and the pups to try to win the Gold Cup.
The character that is most like me is probably Billy because I am really outgoing and I try to do everything by myself. Billy has to conquer many opsticals during this story, and I have had to conquer many myself so we are somewhat alike. This made me enjoy the story more because I could relate to Billy really well and I could understand what he was going through in the story.
Reviewed by: HockeySniper13
