A review by ambergamgee
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

5.0

I decided to comfort read this. It was one of my very favorite books as a kid, I think I read it 9-10 times. There are parts that horrify me now, like when he chops down the biggest tree. There are parts I didn’t notice as a kid, like the moms perspective. Raccoons were my favorite animal as a kid, and I always hated that part of the book as a kid. I was trying to understand what it was about this book that made me so obsessed as a kid.
I think it’s the hard work and gumption. My favorite part was always when he walked to town in the middle of the night to get the pups. This story of a kid just a little older than me working hard, following his passion, and eventually pulling his family out of rural poverty with it. (I grew up in poverty as a kid. I don’t think I made that connection reading it as a kid, because I was urban poor at that age, but now I do.)
Still good. Too religious to ever assign to kids at school. But still holds a special space in my heart.