Douglas C. StewartCritiques

An Ozarks boy listens to his grandfather and saves up to buy two raccoon hounds in 1930s Oklahoma.

Spring, 1842. Americas unclaimed and unexplored land drew thousands of settlers to the West, including the Sager family. Traveling with a wagon train, across the frontier from Missouri to Oregon, both parents succumbed to the untamed wilderness the father from an Indian attack, and mother from pneumonia. Led by their eldest son, John, the seven Sager children courageously continued the journey their parents began, through the wilderness, to a new life - a feat that truly defines pioneer. A heartwarming adventure film for the whole family; this is the amazing true story of the Sager children and their perils on the Oregon Trail.

I read this book in high school and enjoyed it then.

I was read this book in 3rd grade and I realize now that that was extremely too young for this type of book. The deaths of the dogs were heartbreaking and I think caused a lot of us 3rd graders to realize the concept of mortality. It would be a good book to read in an English class or in a social studies class since the timeframe of when this book takes place. It shows the importance of hard work as the main character works extremely hard to buy his two pups.

I would utilize this text in a fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade classroom due to comprehension and language of the book. This is a great book to use with a class of readers who are having a hard time enjoying reading because this book is so easy to connect to and is not too challenging to read. The book would provide great discussions over loyalty and making tough choices. Teachers could have students create a time line of the book as an activity for both social studies and a comprehension lesson for language arts. This would also help students remember key details throughout the text and see how the characters evolve over time.

You could read this book as a read aloud to a 5th grade class. While reading the book, you could have the students keep book journals. At the end of every chapter, the students would have to write down their predictions for the next chapter. This will strengthen their foreshadowing and prediction ability and improve their writing skills. You could also read it aloud to a 4th grade classroom. You could work on comparing and contrasting characters and analyzing them. You could have the students focus on Billy and Reuben. They could compare and contrast them and then explain different characterizations of both.

In the book "Where the Red Fern Grows", a little boy and his two new puppies. He earns the money for the puppies by working and doing random jobs to earn the fifty dollars. Billy goes to pick up the puppies on his own and ends up buying his entire family some gifts. He takes his time coming home and on his way, he finds a tree that has two names carved into it that he will name his puppies: Old Dan and Little Ann. Billy will train these puppies to hunt raccoons. The first raccoon they catch takes Billy two days to get out of the tree and it only comes down with the luck of a wind storm. Billy eventually makes a bet that his two dogs will be able to catch the "ghost coon", which causes Billy's dogs to get attacked. He enters and wins a raccoon catching contest with his two dogs. At the end of the story, Old Dan gets attacked by a mountain lion and eventually passes away, and Little Ann dies from a broken heart. Billy and his father plant a red fern between each of their graves.

This is a story about a boy named Billy, who has a goal of working hard so that he can buy dogs to hunt raccoons. After a summers worth of work, the Billy finally has enough to buy two coon hounds, that Billy names Little Ann and Old Dan. From weeks and months of training, the boy works hard and builds a loving relationship with his dogs as they become best friends and hunt. After years of successful hunting, the trio goes out one night on a hunt and everything would change in a matter of instances. Expecting raccoons, the trio find themselves tangling with a mountain lion, who would break up the dogs, before they would eventually reunite back in the earth, creating a red fern, which symbolizes ultimate love. The central message of this story is that love is the strongest bond through hard work and care.

This would be a good book as a class book or an independent book for fifth graders. The students could write their own narrative about something that happened in their past that is important to them. They could also write their own examples of figurative language and share them with the class.

Where the red fern grows, is a timeless classic that tells the story of a young boy and his two hounds, Old Dan and Little Anne. Billy Coleman lives in the mountain and wants nothing more than to have his very own hound dog, but his family can not spend the money. Billy takes it upon him self to work for the money and after much effort and saving, he finally saves up the money for his dog. Once billy gets to the town, instead of getting one dog he gets two. The book continues to tell the exciting hunting story that ensue once Billy get his dogs home. There are multiple central message central messages in this book but once of the more prominent ones is that when you want something bad enough you must work hard and stay persistent. There are elements of death and younger readers should be able to handle the concepts of death before reading the story.

I had to force myself to enjoy this book. It's great writing, good characters, pleasant setting...I just couldn't get myself past the subject matter. Over half the book is about tracking, trapping, and murdering raccoons. I like animals far more than humans and since this is done almost strictly as a recreational sport (not for meat/survival and selling the furs in only an ancillary effect of the hunt) it's unforgivable in my mind. It sickened me. I can't fathom how anyone can derive joy from soulless murder.½

Summary: This is a wonderful story about Old Dan and Little Ann ('coon-huntin' dogs as well as pals) and their devoted owner, Billy, who lives on a farm in Oklahoma with his family, who struggles financially.

Personal Reaction: Absolutely love this story! It is set right here in Oklahoma and I grew up poor (not quite THIS poor, but close!), but he teaches the dogs to hunt and uses the money from his coonskins to help fund the family, eventually so they can move.

Classroom Extensions: My daughter actually HAS a coonskin (we have friends who own land and hunt regularly) so I would bring it in and pass it around.

I would make an indentation of a fern and have them color it red.

A "period piece" that might interest some pre-teens. Some of the plot inconsistencies and "reality holes" bothered me.

Where the Red Fern Grows. Based on the Novel by Wilson Rawls. A heart-warming tale of adventure and friendship.

This is a classic, and favorite, family movie.

"Based on a true story. SEVEN ALONE is an inspiring saga of heroism and a family's perseverance in the rugged Old West."