Where The Red Fern Grows

"I was walking along whistling when I heard the dogfight", Billy starts the story. He rescued an old redbone hound dog and took it home. This brought memories back to his mind. It all happened over 50 years ago. This is a story about friendship between two coon hounds and a boy named Billy Colman. Billy is ten years old and lives in the Ozark Mountains. He had long straw-colored hair that was shaggy. He wore patched and faded coveralls. Billy did not wear shoes during the summer. He was a good boy and worked hard to help his mother and father. His family lived in a farm on a Cherokee land because his mother was part Cherokee Indian. Billy's mother taught Billy reading, writing and arithmetics. They lived in a log house near the Illinois river. Billy loved the nature and roamed the hill and river bottoms. He knew every game trail and every animal track. He was most fascinated by the tracks of a river coon. "I was a hunter from the time I could walk", he tells. He hunted lizards, rats, f...