The best book I read this semester was Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. The Genre of this book is Contemporary Realistic Fiction. It is fiction because the story is not about a real person, but it could have been. It takes place in the past. It is about the love of a boy, Billy, and his two dogs, Dan and Ann. The nine characteristics required for evaluating Contemporary Realistic Fiction are:

1. Honest Presentation – the setting of the story is in the Hills of the Ozark in Northeastern Oklahoma during the Great Depression. The book is true to the people of the time. It shows their struggles and dreams for a better life.
2. Values – Billy was the taught the value of hard work and the love of a family. His grandpa was a valuable mentor for him. The family struggled to teach Billy good values in a community where many men and boys had become hardened by the harsh realities of little work and few resources.
3. Sophistication – I saw how Billy did not become like the bullies, he did not want to fight. He protected his dogs from the bully who was trying to kill his dogs. The bully tripped and fell on the axe he was carrying and died.
4. Language and syntax – The community spoke like folks grow’n up in the back hills. Their manners were rough and untamed.
5. Hope – Billy had a lot of hope for life, he was not aware of the financially hard times. He focused on his dogs and helping his family.
6. Categorization – the book remained true to the stereotypes of the time period and the author did not try to make the story politically correct.
7. Violence – there is violence in the story when the boy falls on his axe and when the mountain lion tries to attack Billy. Because of the dog’s love for Billy, Dan fights the mountain lion and gets torn up pretty bad. After Billy kills the mountain lion with his axe, he realizes his dog is in real trouble. He carries the dog home, and pleads with his mom to save Dan. His mom does her best, but Dan dies anyway.
8. Insightful – I learned that love between a boy (or a girl) and their animals can be very strong. Bonds can be formed that last an eternity. I have no doubt that there are animals in heaven.
9. Enjoyment – I loved the part when Billy lays his eyes on his new puppies. I also loved the part when Billy and his dogs won the Coon Hunting Competition and showed the value of treating animals with love and respect.

I can think of several classroom activities for exploring this book. The students could be encouraged to write stories and draw pictures of their favorite pet. They could learn about red ferns and grow red ferns in a pot in the classroom. They could also write fictional stories about heroic animal’s who do great things.

The part of the story that had tears rolling down my face was when Dan died and Ann died of a broken heart a few days later. She could not live without him. Billy wondered if he could live without his dogs because his heart was broken, too. His Mom said they had enough money to move to the city, but she knew Billy could not leave his dogs. She considered letting Billy live with his grandpa. Although his mom’s heart was broken at the loss of the dogs, she knew it was an answer to her prayer because the family needed to stay together. Billy received his own answer from God when he saw a red fern growing between the graves of his two dogs. The red fern symbolized the strong love of the two dogs for each other. Billy felt peace in his heart that everything was going to be okay.