Where the Red Fern Grows

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, June 2011; written by Tammy Dinsmore

My husband & I recently made a trip to Seattle. While we were there we had the opportunity to go to one of our favorite restaurants which has community style seating, the kind where you sit at a table with a group of 8 -10 other people and watch the chef cook your food.

We shared a table with a family celebrating a birthday and a graduation that evening. During the course of our conversations the subject of careers came up and when I told them that I worked in a library they talked about how they loved their local library, they loved to browse the shelves and how often they went to the library. Then they asked what my favorite book is.

I told them my favorite book is ‘Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. I couldn’t believe the look on their faces when I said that. They were very excited because they had just finished reading that very book. Then they had watched the movie. They talked about how they loved the book and how moving it was for them. It turned out that it was one of their all-time favorites too.

Written in 1961, “Where the Red Fern Grows” is the story of a boy, Billy, and his two blue tick hounds in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. Billy wants more than anything to have a coon hound. His family can’t afford to buy a dog so he earns the money and eventually is able to order the dog with the help of his uncle who owns the local store. To his surprise there are 2 dogs in the box when he goes to pick up his package. The adventures start there. Billy spends just about every waking hour training his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann, to hunt eventually earning the coveted Gold Cup in the annual coon hunting contest. Then tragedy strikes when Old Dan and Little Ann tangle with a mountain lion. Billy then learns the meaning of the Red Fern.

I pick up this book every couple of years and re-read it. It’s just one of those stories that, in my opinion, are timeless.

Our dinner out turned into a great evening and one that I wished didn’t have to end so soon. It was nice to see that their family enjoyed reading and their local library as much as I do. If you have a favorite book, share it! Sometimes it may lead to a new friendship or at the very least a good conversation.