Where The Red Fern Grows - Book Units Teacher

Book Information

Publication Date: 1961

Reading Level: Lexile Measure 700L, Scholastic Guided Reading Level X

Interest Level: Grades 5 - 8, Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Major Awards: Top 100 Children’s Novels #34 from School Library Journal, 1988 Great Stone Face Book Award -- Grades 4-6 (Winner)

Number of Pages: 304 pages

Approximate Word Count: 75,945 words -- The average reader will spend 5 hours and 3 minutes reading Where the Red Fern Grows at 250 words per minute.*

Audible Book Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins

Book Themes: Coming of Age, Perseverance, Loyalty, Family, Proverty, Man and the Natural World, Education

Genre: Coming of Age; Adventure; Young Adult

Setting: Northeastern Oklahoma in a valley in the Ozarks in the 1960's

Important Quote: “After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: "You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over.”

First Line: WHEN I LEFT MY OFFICE THAT BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY, I HAD no idea what was in store for me

Point of View: First Person (Central Narrator - Billy Colman)

*Estimate from Reading Length

Vocabulary List

abounded amends aromatic begrudge belligerent belligerent bewilder/bewildered brute cleave coax codger commotion deliberate disposition dormant drastic dumfounded entangled entrails falter

fidget foliage gnawing haggard hampering heed jubilant leer leeward limber lithe maneuver monotonous nonchalantly pangs paralysis passage predatory predicament protruding

quavering querying radiant salve scalded scourge shinny slough sober solemn sparse sprain squalling stowed sulk surpass switch twilight waver wiley

Links to Resources and Teaching Ideas

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Where the Red Fern Grows Blog Post

Cross Curricular Ideas

Math

Activities

Character Drawings

Purchase the novel study Where the Red Fern Grows on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Dog Banks

These dog banks were made from the plastic containers that the Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) powered drink mix comes in. We used wooden beads for the nose and eyes, ribbon for the dog collar, Fun Foam for the tongue, and construction paper for the ears. Students decorated the features with Sharpies. This was a really quick project to create. Since Billy saved his money in a KC Baking Powder can, students thought using the drink mix containers fitting.

Where the Red Fern Grows Cross Curricular Science Idea

Students drew ecosystems full of animals that Billy would see in his homeland of the Ozark Mountains. They listed the producers and consumers or decomposers from their drawings or the omnivores, carnivores, and herbivores based on their illustrations.