Where the Red Fern Grows book summery

This is an especially good book about a boy named Billy and his two loyal Coonhounds, Old Dan and Little Ann. Throughout the story, Billy learns a lot of life lessons that help him to become a man. The story takes place on a farm in the Ozark Mountains of northeastern Oklahoma. At the beginning of the book, Billy buys two coon hounds puppies for .25 cent each. Soon after he gets the dogs he wants to train them to become great hunting dogs, which is where the story really begins.
Billy is eager to teach his brand new puppies hunting techniques so he asked his Grandfather for a raccoon hide. The training for the dogs began when his grandfather gave him a raccoon hide. Billy used the hide by dragging it over a certain path, then he turned lose the hounds and they tracked the hide by the scent. Soon after Billy is finished hunting each day he goes to his Grandfather’s store and talks to some of the more experienced hunters. He learned a great deal of tips and tricks from these more experienced hunters. Autumn comes and Billy is ready to take his young dogs for their first hunt. On this first hunt Old Dan and Little Ann trap a raccoon in one of the biggest trees in the forest. This goes on for a couple of months; they catch a lot of raccoons. Everyday, Billy went to his Grandfathers store were he would trade stories with the older and more experienced hunters. Little did Billy know that he was getting a reputation for having great pair of skilled Coonhounds. Soon all of the Ozark Mountains knew about Billy and his two awesome Coonhounds.
The conflict in the story begins when two of the meanest boys in town come in to try to out hunt Billy. During this hunt, Old Dan and Little Ann get in a fight with the Prichard boys dog Old Blue. Old Dan and Little Ann are killing Old Blue and one of the Prichard boys named Ruben runs to kill Billy’s dogs. He had a small hand ax in his hand. Ruben tripped and fell on the ax killing him immediately. Billy is so scared and doesn’t know what to do so he runs home. He tells his grandfather and they take care of things and Billy doesn’t get in trouble. He soon enters a tournament for the best hunting dogs in the state. He won the championship and he gives the some of the winnings to the Prichard family. After the competition Billy was hunting and a mountain line brutally attacked Old Dan wounding him badly putting him in critical condition. Soon after Old Dan dies, Little Ann is so hurt she can’t eat or sleep. Little Ann ended up getting real sick and she died. When the dogs died a red fern grew where they had passed away. This symbolizes a coming of new life and death. Overall this is one of my favorite books; I suggest it to all that love dogs and a heart warming stories about the coming of age. Throughout the book Billy is taught many valuable lessons. I was moved by the book the story is very touching.