One title that kept popping up is Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls. He spent his youth in the Oklahoma Ozarks and never encountered a book till he went to high school. I don't know if he wrote anything else besides this novel. When I was roaming the stacks at the public library yesterday, I spotted this book and took it out. It's a boy-and-his-dogs story.
At around six o'clock last night, I sat down on the couch and started reading this book. I was absolutely hooked from the first page. Six hours later, I finished the book. It's not a long book--249 pages--nor a large book--4.25 inches by 7 inches--but it pulled me into what Nancie Atwell calls "the reading zone." I was gone. I was living in that story and through that story.
When I was growing up, I was a reader, especially of dog and horse stories. I don't remember encountering this book. I'm sure I would have remembered it if I had read it back then.
The characters are believable (though the good are very good and the bad are very bad) and the plot moves along at a brisk pace. There are many twists and turns in the story. I couldn't put it down! I give it a 10++ out of 10.
I took six hours of my life to read a book that grade schoolers read. I'm glad I did.
Good writing is good writing, no matter where we find it.
