Reading Reflection on Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

After reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” I thought it was an amazing book. The place where the book took place was in the rugged Ozark mountains in a beautiful valley. That is where he lived in the book. Also, the story has a plentiful amount of scenes in the woods when he is hunting.

The main characters in the story are Billy Coleman, Little Ann, Old Dan, Grandpa, and his parents play a large role in the book as well. The main problem in the story that I think is that Billy wants a pair of Coon Hounds to go hunting with. His parents don’t have the money to do that so he has to spend a substantial amount of time-saving up money from the fishermen that he sells things to. Then once he has the money he has to go on a large treck to get to where he is getting his hounds. There are also some mini-conflicts inside of that. Like when he is so devastated when he finds out how much those dogs are and he stops eating and doesn’t sleep well. He then concludes that problem by saving hard earned money and putting that towards the Coon Hounds.

The Climax of the story is when Billy and his dogs are out hunting one night and they encounter a Mountain Lion. His dogs put up a whopping fight against the lion. They do end up killing the lion but not before Old Dan is severely hurt and Little Ann is hurt too but not as bad as Old Dan. Then Old Dan ends up dead of his wounds. Then because of the bond between the dogs, Little Ann dies of starvation and depression. That is pretty much the climax.

Looking at Billy in the story you can see some big character traits such as his compassionate, loving attitude that he puts towards his dogs. He is also a very determined kid. Some reasonings that prove he is loving and compassionate towards is when on page 226 Billy says, ‘There in the flinty hills of the Ozarks, I fought for the lives of my dogs. I fought with the only weapon I had, the sharp cutting blade of a double-bitted ax.’ As I said before he is a determined kid. Some text evidence that shows he is strong is on page 77 he says ‘it would take days to chop down’ but then after the days, he ended up chopping it down. That to me shows that he is a very determined kid.

For me, this book was one of my favorites. I thought it was full of very strong emotional parts, but also lots of humorous parts as well. I liked how the book showed a close and realistic bond between Billy and the dogs. I also liked that you could picture almost every moment in the book in your mind. That to me keeps me interested in the story. The book also made me think about things more closely. There wasn’t much not to like about the book. Some people might say the ending is too sad but other than that the book was great.

Works Cited

1. Rawls, W. (1961). Where the Red Fern Grows. New York: Doubleday.
2. Arnold, E. L. (2004). 'The Extraordinary Hero: Wilson Rawls' Where the Red Fern Grows'. Children's Literature in Education, 35(3), 245-257. doi:10.1023/b:clei.0000044096.35489.2b
3. Huey, D. (2010). 'Close reading and textual ambiguity in Wilson Rawls's Where the Red Fern Grows'. Children's Literature in Education, 41(3), 218-229. doi:10.1007/s10583-010-9117-4
4. Lubin, A. (2009). 'Transformation and redemption in Where the Red Fern Grows'. In G. Pasternack & R. L. Cope (Eds.), Children’s Literature Association Quarterly (Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 380-394). Johns Hopkins University Press.
5. Behrens, H. L. (2006). 'The Storied World of Where the Red Fern Grows: An Analysis of Context and Influence'. Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 31(3), 232-248. doi:10.1353/chq.2006.0030
6. Perry, D. (2001). 'More than Man's Best Friend: Reading Between the Lines in Wilson Rawls' Where the Red Fern Grows'. Children's Literature in Education, 32(2), 83-92. doi:10.1023/a:1008138624993
7. Eeds, R. (2008). 'Violence and Compassion in Wilson Rawls' Where the Red Fern Grows'. Children's Literature Association Quarterly, 33(2), 156-169. doi:10.1353/chq.0.0025
8. Rawls, W. (1996). Summer of the Monkeys. New York: Yearling.
9. Schmeling, M. A. (2006). 'Where the Red Fern Grows'. In Children's Books and Their Creators (pp. 558-560). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
10. Freitas, S. (2009). 'The Character Education Potential of a Contemporary Dog Story'. In J. Nagel, S. Bland, & J. McNamara (Eds.), Toward a Literary Ecology (pp. 93-106). Sense Publishers.