An Ozarks boy listens to his grandfather and saves up to buy two raccoon hounds in 1930s Oklahoma.

I read this book in high school and enjoyed it then. ( )

I was read this book in 3rd grade and I realize now that that was extremely too young for this type of book. The deaths of the dogs were heartbreaking and I think caused a lot of us 3rd graders to realize the concept of mortality. It would be a good book to read in an English class or in a social studies class since the timeframe of when this book takes place. It shows the importance of hard work as the main character works extremely hard to buy his two pups. ( )

I would utilize this text in a fifth, sixth, seventh, or eighth grade classroom due to comprehension and language of the book. This is a great book to use with a class of readers who are having a hard time enjoying reading because this book is so easy to connect to and is not too challenging to read. The book would provide great discussions over loyalty and making tough choices. Teachers could have students create a time line of the book as an activity for both social studies and a comprehension lesson for language arts. This would also help students remember key details throughout the text and see how the characters evolve over time.

You could read this book as a read aloud to a 5th grade class. While reading the book, you could have the students keep book journals. At the end of every chapter, the students would have to write down their predictions for the next chapter. This will strengthen their foreshadowing and prediction ability and improve their writing skills. You could also read it aloud to a 4th grade classroom. You could work on comparing and contrasting characters and analyzing them. You could have the students focus on Billy and Reuben. They could compare and contrast them and then explain different characterizations of both.