Where the Red Fern Grows

by Wilson Rawls

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Ideas for Reports and Papers

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1. In chapter two, Rawls provides a vivid description of Billy's home. Create a collage using magazine images that capture this depiction. Display your completed artwork.

2. Research steel traps like the ones Billy used. Speak with a hunter or trapper who has such traps. Record a demonstration of how to set and trigger a trap. Interview the trapper to learn about trap preparation, setting trapping lines, processing pelts, and selling them. Present your findings to your classmates.

3. Assemble a display featuring hunting dog breeds, including the redbone coonhound that Billy desired.

4. Billy saved for two years to gather fifty dollars for two coon pups. Investigate the current average cost of two coon pups. Identify money-making activities a ten-year-old could undertake today. List these activities along with potential earnings for each. Calculate how long it would take to save the required amount.

5. Billy hunted in the river bottoms near his home. Locate his home on a map. Use the Internet, encyclopedias, library books, or travel guides to learn about the Ozarks and Cherokee lands. Share your discoveries with your classmates.

6. Write a paper on current regulations for coon hunting. List the hunting regulations mentioned in Where the Red Fern Grows. Compare and contrast today's regulations with those from the early twentieth century.

7. Collaborate with a friend to prepare an interview addressing the social issues and public sensitivities surrounding coon hunting or any type of hunting today. Develop questions and find answers. Role-play the interview, with one person as the interviewer and the other as the hunter. Record the interview on audio or video to share with your classmates.

8. Billy is depicted as a believer in God and prayer. List the instances when Billy prays for assistance and note the outcomes of his prayers beside each instance.

9. Grandpa owns and runs a general store and mill. Describe his store. Do similar stores exist today? Research merchandising practices from that era. The Sears Roebuck Catalog has reprinted old editions that can often be found in libraries as resource materials. Many rural or remote residents used the catalog for mail-ordering everyday necessities. Compare and contrast general stores and the Sears Roebuck Catalog.

10. In chapter eighteen, Mr. Kyle remarks that people call it loyalty when a dog sacrifices its life for its master, but he sees it as love. Reflect on a dog's ability to show love. Respond to Mr. Kyle's statement about love in the hearts of men and consider the kind of world this would create.

11. Billy cherished spending time with his grandfather and valued the wisdom he imparted. Conduct an interview with an older relative or friend. What valuable insights can they offer you? Write a brief paper about this individual and discuss the impact they have on your life.

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