Wilson RawlsCritiques

This book is one that I come back to over and over again.

AR: 4.9

A dying Louisiana man thinks two puppies will help heal his grandson's World War II trauma.

Dog

IRL: 3 - 7
awards: New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award

New Hampshire Great Stone Face Children's Book Award

Massachusetts Children's Book Award

North Dakota Flicker Tale Children's Book Award

Reading age: 8+

Based on the novel by Wilson Rawls. The tale of a boy and his best friends: two remarkable hunting dogs who teach him about life, loyalty and trust against a wild woodland backdrop where adventure waits just around the bend.

The Norman Rockwell of American stories.

I remember liking this book more when I read it as a child/pre-teen than I did this time. I seem to recall being emotionally invested and thinking it was poignant (I probably didn't use that word in my mind as a kid though). As an adult, I feel emotionally manipulated. Let's start with the overall story first, though, and leave the ending for later.

I read this at the same time as my 12-year-old daughter, who was reading it for school. We agreed that the book starts off pretty slow—Billy pining for a couple of hounds and then working toward getting them. I'm all for the lesson about going after what you want instead of expecting it to be given to you, but it could have been a little more interesting. The story gets going once he gets into the coon hunting, and it certainly taught me about a way of life I would never have otherwise known about. Running alongside Billy, Old Dan, and Little Ann as they tree those coons, with the dangers that come along with that, is exciting and immersive.

I was prepared for a tragic ending but did not remember it being so gruesome. On top of that, the way Billy reacts to the loss hit me a little close to home, after the recent loss of my mom and the way my daughter has handled it. I was truly concerned for her to keep reading it (she was behind me at this point), but she apparently handled it better than I did. I also think she liked the book overall more than I did, reminding me of my own different opinion as a kid. Me, though, I felt like there was no reason for the extremity of the tragedy and aftermath other than trying to make people cry. If you're wondering whether your child should read it or not, I'd recommend reading it first to make sure you think it's not a bit too much for them.

Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he's finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own--Old Dan and Little Ann--he's ecstatic. It doesn't matter that times are tough; together they'll roam the hills of the Ozarks.

Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan's brawn, Little Ann's brains, and Billy's sheer will seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters--now friends--and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair, and that the seeds of the future can come from the scars of the past.

2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls (1976; 1992 ed.) 283 pages.

READING LEVEL 4.8 AR POINTS 13.0

SETTING: Late 1800’s Oklahoma, in the Ozark’s

There’s a big reward, $2.00 per monkey, and $100 for the chimpanzee, for catching the 30 monkeys who escaped from a circus train that wrecked. This would give 14-year-old Jay Berry Lee enough money to buy some things he’s always wanted: a pony and a .22 rifle.

When you find yourself pausing at the end because you’re bawling your eyes out, I’d say this is a pretty darn good story. Every 5th grade child (or older…I sure enjoyed it) should either read this book or have their parents read it to them. It is a pretty lengthy book worth 13.0 AR points. But, I feel like this is the world we have left behind, and one our kids may never see.

Book-to-Movie

Summer of the Monkeys (1998), starring Corey Sevier as Jay Berry Lee, Katie Stuart as sister Daisy Lee, Michael Ontkean as their father, Leslie Hope as their mother Sarah Lee, and Wilford Brimley as Grandfather.

1/17/2023 - UPDATE:
I watched the movie. Horrible! The first thing you’ll see is Rowdy is not a hound dog in the movie. Nope! It’s some kind of white collie. They don’t hardly follow the storyline from the book, either, and the acting is subpar. Read the book!

READING LEVEL: 4.9 AR POINTS: 11.0
(Ages 8-12, Grades 3-7)

When your 10-year-old granddaughter calls you up and says, “Lolli, you know that book you said you wanted to read but haven’t read yet…Where the Red Fern Grows? Well, you should read it. It’s really good but kinda sad at the end.” (She obviously didn't want to tell me just how sad it was.) Then, by George, you read it! Anything to keep those bonds going, right? Age 10 or older would be about the right age. It's full of positive messages and shows what can happen when even poor kids persevere and work hard. But, I mostly liked the spiritual messages peppered throughout the story. Everything happens for a reason, and in the end God will help you and heal your heart while teaching you lessons. I love the sign of the red fern God showed Billy at the end, letting him know He was there and knew his heart.

Although a young reader’s classic, originally written in 1961, this book isn’t written in that pompous style of fake-talk of that era. Wilson Rawls is an amazing and very visual storyteller, and he didn’t even have access to books until he was of high school age. He grew up in the Ozarks of Eastern Oklahoma and owned a blue-tick hound on which this story is based.

I never even knew what the story was about until now. Fourteen-year-old Billy’s only dream was to own two hound dogs for hunting coon. He was very poor and spent two years saving up change he made by collecting and selling wild berries and any extra vegetables from their little home garden. On his own, he achieved his goal and was finally able to purchase two runt hound dogs named, Old Dan and Little Ann, for $50, who turned out to be the best coon dogs around, and the best friends Billy could ever ask for.

The author had strong character development for each dog. You get to know and love them. And if you have had a dog that has touched your life like these dogs did with Billy (and I have….my beloved black lab, Beaux 2006-2020), then you will relate and feel every emotion. Be prepared! The ending is heart-wrenching. It left me a slobbering mess!

I will definitely be giving a copy to all my young grandboys to read when they reach about age 10.
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BOOK-TO-MOVIE:

(1) Where the Red Fern Grows (1974), starring Stewart Petersen (Billy), James Whitmore (Grandpa), Beverly Garland (Mother), and Jack Ging (Father).

(2) Where the Red Fern Grows (2003), starring *young heart-throb* Joseph Ashton (Billy), Dave Matthews (Father), Renee Faia (Mother) and Dabney Coleman (Grandpa). NOTE: Will be watching this one Friday night with my granddaughter...popcorn and movie night!
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OTHER BOOKS WRITTEN BY WILSON RAWLS:
Summer of the Monkey (1976)

I read this once in 5th grade, and read it every couple of years just to refresh my memory. Every year my perspective on the book changes, but I never stop loving this book. It is the story of a young boy who works for what he wants and finds the courage to go after it. What he wants is 2 coon dogs, and he gets them and names them Old Dan and Little Ann. And from then they are his constant companions as he faces the trials of a young boy growing up in the Ozarks. This book ends sadly, and never fails to make me cry, but I still love the book.

If you want a good cry, maybe you've just been feeling emotionally clogged up, then go ahead and read this book. Where the Red Fern Grows tells the story of a young boy, this young boy is based on the author, during the early 20th century. The boy works hard and saves every penny he has to buy two young hunting dogs. The story tells of the adventures and bonding between the animals and the young boy who cares for them.

3.5 stars - The story moves along a bit slowly - I think my children may find it a bit boring. I love some of the lessons it contains concerning faith, persistence, and devotion.

A beautiful story of a boy named Billy and his two dogs. Is there a greater love than the love of a young boy and the loyalty of his dog. Together they will face many adventures that will create an unforgettable bond that makes this novel a classic for the last 40 years. Billy is a loving, strong, caring character that is as timeless as this story is. Find out for yourself, and get lost in this book.

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Back around the time the 1980s turned into the 1990s, around the time I was ten, I read this two or three times in elementary school. For me and my friends—hunters, fishers, connected to countryfolk though cityfolk—it was an amazing book. (And, when the class got done reading it, we would watch the 1974 film in class.)

Rereading it in this "Anniversary Edition" (30, 40, 50, 55? They never say.) at 40+ provides both nostalgia and new perspectives. I loved the story. I loved the link the boy has with his dog. I love the hunting and the country and the countryfolk. It struck me as a boy and it was a good story for an adult too. Boy-and-his-dogs story, family story, hunting story, work hard story. All good. As an adult, the nostalgia of parts I remembered "scene-for-scene" (if not word-for-word) was heart-warming and encouraging. Coming on parts I didn't remember as much was intriguing and satisfying. There were some things that really stuck out as an adult that I didn't remember from my childhood readings. First, Billy's mother was part-Cherokee. Didn't catch that. Second, and most strikingly, the prayer and God's providence that suffuses important parts of the narrative. Maybe because I was a Baptist church-going lad it didn't strike me as odd. It did now. Not because I dislike reference to religion, but because I did not remember it and I think it would be disallowed now in any mainstream American children's literature.

Would any public school use this as a book to read now? I don't know if it still is. But, I wonder if it would be challenged for religiosity. I also worry it isn't assigned anymore because it doesn't appeal to our modern, twenty-first century world. Hunting? Nope. God? Nope. White folk? Nope. Country folk? Nope. Olden times? Nope. Guns? Nope. Death? Nope. Unfortunately, we live in a time where Terence's old truism—"Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto," "I am human, and I think nothing human is foreign to me"—is discarded. In the Woke age, books and stories must reflect the race, class, gender, time, attitudes, etc. of the reader only and anything else is suppressive, oppressive, structurally racist, appropriation, and so on. Shakespeare? That means nothing! It means everything. "I am human, and I think nothing human is foreign to me." Let us hope that Where the Red Fern Grows lives on to it's hundredth anniversary and is still being read by somebody. I will give it to my son one day. It is a classic for a reason, and has much to teach us.

I once reviewed this in another place like this: "A classic boy-becomes-a-man story. Any red-blooded American boy should read this book, and they should love it." I stand by that.

Made me cry... In other words, it was really good.

Big Dan and Little Anne. Best story ever growing up.

This book is a feel good book with a predictable ending. The ending with everyone getting what they want or need is not realistic or explained. A better lesson is that that doing the right thing and being sacrificial of your resources has a cost. If the money existed for the horse and gun then the surgery could have been covered. The story is flawed and is twisted in this way to make sure the boy is not saddened by his sacrifice of his reward money. The story has some nice descriptions of the Ozarks. It is not surprising that this is a Disney movie, since it is basically a fairy tale.½

It's a classic. It makes me weep salty tears. I hate how much I love this book, and every time I don't want to read it, but it sweeps me up into its pages every time. It makes me believe I can skin a raccoon and chop down a sycamore tree and run barefoot through the wild Ozark mountains with my dogs. This book is the reason I always Does the Dog Die before watching movies. But man do I love it.

Excellent book for children.