Where the Red Fern Grows

Every day, Billy runs into Grandpa’s store to see if there’s word from Kentucky. Finally, it arrives. The kennels still breed dogs; in fact, their price has dropped five dollars in the past two years. The dogs will arrive at a town 20 miles away called Tahlequah. Grandpa advises Billy to hitch a ride to go collect them.

Billy knows he needs to tell his family about the hounds, but he can’t bring himself to do it. He knows he needs to wait for his dogs, but he can’t bring himself to do that, either. He packs a small satchel of food in one of his mother’s flour sacks and heads off in the middle of the night to go get them himself.

In his bare feet, Billy travels 20 miles through the woods to Tahlequah. It is the first time he’s been in a city this big, and Billy feels intimidated. He sees a marshal for the first time, and is fearful of the man and his gun, though the man ignores Billy. For the first time in his life, Billy sees his reflection in a mirror. He realizes how odd he must look to the city folk.