Where the Red Fern Grows

I had to read this book in sixth grade. We were only supposed to read so many chapters and not read ahead so that we could answer test questions and have discussions with the rest of the class.... I sped through this book faster than any other assigned reading in my life.

I was in the backseat of my family's van on our way to visit family in another state. It was a three hour drive and I'd really been plugging away at the novel. I got to the end, and I just started bawling. My parents were kind of freaked. They were just along for a nice long drive, listening to music, my mom pointing out deer now and then; when all of a sudden their daughter starts sobbing uncontrollably behind them.

This story has stayed with me for SO long. The amount of love and hard work the boy puts into his two hound dogs, and it ends up with them BOTH dying?!? I was heartbroken. But it taught me such a valuable lesson. Things/people that we love come into our lives...and then they leave. We only have one chance to love them as fiercely as we possibly can.

I vaguely remember reading this book as an adolescent. I didn't remember all of the details of the story but did remember that I cried at the end. I recently read it again aloud with my 11 year old son who loves the outdoors, guns, animals and adventure. We both loved it and shed a few tears. It was a great to hear him say, “Mom, that was a really good book!”

I read this book aloud to my fifth grade students every year, and I could happily read it aloud every year of my life and I'd never get tired of it. It's the story of a poor family during the Depression in Oklahoma. The boy saves up his money so that he can get some coon dogs, and these dogs are the true love of his life. The boy and his dogs go out at night and tree coons and the boy kills the coons, once treed, and sells them to earn money. The boy and his dogs have many great adventures...it's a fabulous story.