I wonder if I would have had a different reaction to this book if I'd read it as a kid.

While I didn't enjoy the book as a whole (especially the weird hand-wavy references to "Indians" and the 10,000 uses of the word coon), the depiction of grief at the end was very good and did make me cry.

Where the Red Fern Grows is another children's book about the bond between a man and his dogs. Billy's dream is to own two dogs. When he's finally able to save enough money, Old Dan and Little Ann came into his life. Together, the three become the finest hunting team in the valley. 

This is another book that stuck with me from elementary school. I would have students, in pairs or small groups, bring in 5 objects that represent key aspects of the story. The students will present the objects in class as a focus on symbols. 

AR Level: 4.9

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8

Lexile Level: 700L

This book is about a young boy named Billy who buys a set of hunting dogs named Dan and Ann. Billy loves his dogs and trains them to hunt for raccoons with him. One day, after Dan is attacked by a mountain lion, Billy suffers a great loss that affects him for the rest of his life. I would read this book to my class as a read-aloud during free time.

I would use this book in a 6th grade class. It would be a good book to practice foreshadowing.

This is at least my third reading of this classic.  I thought it would be fun to do the Audible version as the narrator is wonderful.  Silly me...  I actually had high hopes that listening would make it easier to get through...  it wasn't.  And I'm glad.