Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner is a fast‑paced, emotionally powerful historical fiction novel based on a Rocky Mountain legend. This short novel is ideal for upper elementary readers. Its clear writing, emotional depth, and memorable characters make it perfect for teaching character traits, perseverance, and author’s craft.
Reading Level
Lexile 610L
Interest Level
Grades 2-6
Length
96 pages
Award
New York Times Outstanding Book
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⭐ About the Book
The story follows Little Willy, a determined boy living in Wyoming, whose grandfather suddenly refuses to get out of bed. Although Doc Smith insists nothing is physically wrong, Little Willy takes over the farm chores and harvests the potato crop himself.
Everything seems manageable until Clifford Snyder arrives to collect $500 in back taxes. With no other options, Little Willy decides to enter the adult dog‑sled race, hoping to win the prize money and save the farm. The race brings him face‑to‑face with Stone Fox, a legendary Native American racer who has never lost. What follows is a story of courage, loyalty, and one unforgettable sacrifice.
⭐ Book Details
| Publication Date | 1980 |
| Reading Level | Lexile 610L • Guided Reading Level P |
| Interest Level | Grades 2–6 (Ages 8–12) |
| Awards | Beehive Award (Utah) • Southern California Council on Literature for Children and Young People Award • Maud Hart Lovelace Award (Minnesota) • Library of Congress Children’s Books • New York Times Outstanding Book |
| Length | 96 pages (approx. 29,280 words) |
| Estimated Reading Time | About 1 hour and 57 minutes |
| Audiobook Length | 58 minutes |
| Genre | Historical Fiction • Action Adventure |
| Setting | Wyoming, in an unspecified period of the American Old West |
| Themes | Love between a boy and his dog, competition, perseverance, determination |
| Point of View | Third person |
| Memorable Quote | “Is she dead, Mr. Stone Fox? Is she dead?” |
| First Line | “One day Grandfather wouldn’t get out of bed.” |
Stone Fox Teaching Ideas
Stone Fox Unit Samples
This detailed sample includes a table of contents and lesson plans at a glance. You’ll also find vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, and constructed response questions for Chapter 1. Check out this lesson on the homophones to, too, and two. There’s more. A sentence fragments lesson uses details from the story. Finally, instructions for making a scarecrow craft will turn your unit into a fun hands-on activity your students will love.
Stone Fox Teaching Ideas #1 – Character Traits Booklets
Each of these mini-books is created from a single piece of paper, folded to form a book. The finished books contain six pages where students can list character traits for the main characters. With an answer key included, this activity is a print-and-go project.
Stone Fox Teaching Ideas #2 – Vocabulary Terms used with the Mini-Books
You might think that using the word “Antagonists” as a title for one of the books is a little advanced for the third/fourth graders who read Stone Fox. Our school encourages using appropriate terms, so I decided to give using the word “antagonists” a try instead of using a title such as “Bad Guys.” This anchor chart helped teach these terms.
In our interactive notebooks, students wrote the definitions and drew illustrations for both a protagonist and an antagonist. On the adjacent page in their notebooks, students glued their three completed “Character Traits” mini-books.
Even though I stressed that the protagonist is the main character with traits that can be considered both good or bad, students at this level, really related to the villain/hero concept. The notebook below is a perfect example of how students at this level understood the concepts.
Stone Fox Teaching Ideas #3 – Grandfather’s Jokes
- Have students draw a picture of Grandfather playing one of his tricks on little Willy.
- Grandfather pretending to be a scarecrow
- Grandfather putting little Willy’s plate out in the chicken coop
- Next, students make up a practical joke that Grandfather could have played on little Willy and write about it.
Stone Fox Teaching Ideas #4 – Scarecrow Crafts
Scarecrow Idea #1
Everyone in the class draws a scarecrow. One student describes his/her scarecrow while the others try to draw it from the directions given. Compare the finished products. Do they look alike?
Make a scarecrow from Candy
- a lollipop head
- Jolly Rancher arms
- Tootsie Roll legs
- Juicy Fruits body
Scarecrow Idea #2
This scarecrow was made from wooden clothespins and popsicle sticks. They were decorated with felt and yarn. Students were given supplies and were told to create a scarecrow. The results were fun to see.
See the product that inspired this post.
Stone Fox Novel Study includes vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, constructed response writing, and skill practice.
4 comments
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Stone Fox is one of my favorite stories! Thanks for sharing such a great resource to use along with it!
I love the anchor chart to introduce protagonist and antagonist!
I love your freebie! This is such a great book – although I still cry every time I read it!
What an awesome anchor chart example! This is very cool!