Where the Red Fern Grows Summary

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

EXPOSITION

RISING ACTION

CLIMAX

FALLING ACTION

RESOLUTION

Young Billy has always dreamed of having a dog. Not just any dog, and not just one dog. Billy dreams of having two raccoon hounds and raising them to hunt. Billy works and works to save money to buy himself these dogs and has no idea the true value that they will bring to his life.

Billy desperately wants hunting dogs, but his family cannot afford it. Billy works odd jobs for two years in order to save enough money to buy his two hunting dogs. When he has enough money, he walks into town and purchases two pups, who he names Old Dan and Little Ann.

The dogs are natural hunters and become well known in the area. Billy enters the dogs in a raccoon hunting contest and they win money as a prize.

After the contest, Billy and the dogs are hunting and come across a mountain lion. The dogs save Billy’s life by fighting off the mountain lion, and Old Dan is very badly injured.

Old Dan dies from his injuries, and Billy is devastated. Little Ann is heartbroken and refuses to eat. She loses her will to live and dies while lying across Old Dan’s grave.

The family is able to move further into town due to the money the dogs won from the hunting competition. Before they move, Billy visits the dogs’ graves and sees that a sacred red fern has grown in between them.