Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Red Fern Grows (ISBN 044022814X) is a 1961 novel by American author Wilson Rawls about a boy who acquires and trains two Redbone Coonhound hunting dogs. It has twice been made into a film, in 1974 starring Stewart Peterson and in 2003 starring Joseph Ashton. Template:Spoiler It tells the story of Billy Coleman, who has been saving money for two years just to get a pair of dogs. He names the dogs Old Dan and Little Ann. Together, they go coon hunting and capture coons every night. The worst kid in the country, Rubin Preston, is killed when Billy and his grandpa accept a bet from him. Billy is entered in a championship coon hunt. Little Ann goes to a beauty contest and wins and at the end, Billy has to find the dogs and his Grandpa while it is sleeting. They win the hunt and also about $350.

Near the end of the book the dogs fight a mountain lion to protect Billy. Old Dan is seriously injured and bleeds to death at their home. Little Ann loses the will to live after Dan's death and dies laying by his grave. But after the championship hunt and selling all his coon skins, Billy's family finally has enough money to move to town. A red fern grows over the two dogs' graves at the very end of the story.