Publication Date: 1961
Reading Level: Lexile Measure 700L, Scholastic Guided Reading Level X
Interest Level: Grades 5 - 8, Age Range: 8 - 12 years
Major Awards: Top 100 Children’s Novels #34 from School Library Journal, 1988 Great Stone Face Book Award -- Grades 4-6 (Winner)
Number of Pages: 304 pages
Approximate Word Count: 75,945 words -- The average reader will spend 5 hours and 3 minutes reading Where the Red Fern Grows at 250 words per minute.*
Audible Book Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
Book Themes: Coming of Age, Perseverance, Loyalty, Family, Proverty, Man and the Natural World, Education
Genre: Coming of Age; Adventure; Young Adult
Setting: Northeastern Oklahoma in a valley in the Ozarks in the 1960's
Important Quote:
“After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches.
I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: "You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over.”
First Line: WHEN I LEFT MY OFFICE THAT BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY, I HAD no idea what was in store for me
Point of View: First Person (Central Narrator - Billy Colman)
*Estimate from Reading Length
