Where the Red Fern Grows: Access Edition (The Emc Masterpiece Series Access Editions)

Author: Wilson Rawls

Publisher: EMC/Paradigm Publishing (1999)

Binding: Hardcover, 235 pages

After leaving work one evening, Billy Coleman comes across a dog fight in the street. Seeing the plight of an old redbone hound, Billy's heart is stirred and he rescues the dog,and he has a flash back of his childhood , and cleans and feeds it. When the dog is well again, he sets it free, thinking that maybe the hound will find its way home. The event compels Billy to reflect on his own childhood and the two dogs he once trained to be coonhounds.

Living a simple life in the Ozark Mountains with his parents and three younger sisters, ten-year-old Billy Coleman's sole desire is to own a pair of redbone coonhounds. He begs his parents for the dogs but is told that they cannot afford good coonhounds and hunting is too dangerous anyway. Undeterred, Billy decides to earn the money himself. For two years, he does odd jobs for his grandfather like selling goods to fishermen and selling blackberries, saving his money in an old K. C. Baking Powder can. At last, he has saved $50. With the help of Grandpa, he sends away for two hound puppies.