Where the Red Fern Grows

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

ACTIVITY: “FSA Photographs and Ekphrastic Poetry”

In this activity, students will view and analyze Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographs and then write a corresponding ekphrastic poem for a photograph of their choosing.

In Where the Red Fern Grows, Billy comes of age in rural America, the Oklahoma Ozarks, during the Great Depression. As part of The New Deal, the FSA was created in 1935 to combat rural poverty in America during this time. One of the projects involved paying photographers to travel to rural areas and document people’s lives in the hope of humanizing the economic depression. The Library of Congress contains thousands of these photographs in their archives.

Your task is to browse the FSA photographs and choose one photograph from which to create an ekphrastic poem. An ekphrastic poem is a poem written in response to an image (a painting, a sculpture, a photograph, etc.). Your ekphrastic poem should go beyond summarizing the photograph and interpret the photo in terms of mood, theme, and message.

• Revisit the FSA photographs treating the Ozarks on the Library of Congress website.
• Choose one photograph to which you feel a connection. Analyze the image in terms of composition, mood, message, and/or theme.
• Next, write an ekphrastic poem to accompany this photograph. Use the following examples of ekphrastic poems to help you:

o Landscape with the Fall of Icarus”—painting by Peter Bruegel and poem by William Carlos Williams

o “The Starry Night”—painting by Vincent Van Gogh and poem by Anne Sexton

o “House by the Railroad”—painting by Edward Hopper and poem by Edward Hirsch

This project will conclude with a gallery walk that showcases and celebrates the class’s chosen photographs and poems. As a final activity to bring closure to the project, you will participate in a seminar-style discussion in which you synthesize the photographs and poems with Billy’s story in Where the Red Fern Grows. You will consider the ways in which the photographs and poems echo the themes, mood, setting, and messages of the novel.

Teaching Suggestion: You might consider having students reflect on and analyze the example ekphrastic poems as a full class or in small groups to support students’ analysis of the ways the poem not only illustrates the image but also interprets it. This may help ensure readiness as students embark on the project itself.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who need support with organization, it may be helpful to create a graphic organizer to guide students in their poem development. For instance:

• Stanza 1: Describe the photograph, using words that suggest its mood as well as what it shows.
• Stanza 2: Reflect on the theme or message of the photograph.
• Stanza 3: Relate the photograph’s mood, subject, and theme or message to what you have learned about the Ozarks during the Depression.

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.

Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. In Where the Red Fern Grows, the setting is a significant vehicle for developing the novel’s themes and messages.

• In what ways is the setting, the Ozarks, portrayed as a character in the novel? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the way the setting is more than just a geographic place and becomes an important character in the story. Include three direct quotes in your response to strengthen your points.
• In your concluding sentences, consider how the setting helps develop one of the novel’s main themes.

2. Billy is guided, taught, and influenced by his interactions with many characters in Where the Red Fern Grows.

• How do different characters act as teachers for Billy, both intentionally and accidentally? (topic sentence)
• Analyze the ways in which different characters act as teachers for Billy. Refer to three different characters in the novel and compare and contrast the influence they have on Billy. 
• In your concluding sentences, consider how these teachers help develop the theme of Billy’s Coming-Of-Age.

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Synthesize the themes A Bond Between A Boy And His Dogs and Billy’s Coming-Of-Age using Billy’s relationship with Old Dan and Little Ann. How do the dogs help Billy grow throughout the novel? Consider what each individual dog has to teach Billy, as well as how the two as a pair influence Billy’s development. How does Billy’s bond with Old Dan and Little Ann contribute to his coming-of-age story, and what, ultimately, does Billy learn from his dogs? As you compose your essay, cite three quotes from the text to support your thoughts.

2. Consider the various ways that spirituality plays a role in Where the Red Fern Grows. At times that spirituality is specifically Christian and at times it is less-defined but still significant. How does Billy’s own spirituality evolve over the course of the novel? In what ways does spirituality help him cope with and respond to experiences? As you compose your essay, cite three quotes from the text that strengthen your points of discussion.

Multiple Choice and Long Answer Questions create ideal opportunities for whole-text review, exams, or summative assessments.

Multiple Choice

1. What quote from Chapter 1 best demonstrates the narrator’s emotional response to seeing the dogs attack the old redbone hound?

A) “Taking off my coat, I waded in.”

B) “By this time, my fighting blood was boiling.”

C) “The fighting fire slowly left his eyes.”

D) “I raised one of his paws. There I read the story.”

2. What best describes the tone of Chapter 1?

A) Confused

B) Angry

C) Nostalgic

D) Empathetic

3. What literary device is used when the narrator says, “I was ten years old when I first became infected with this terrible disease”?

A) Imagery

B) Metaphor

C) Personification

D) Hyperbole

4. What word best describes Billy’s work habits as he saves for his dogs?

A) Industrious

B) Inconsistent

C) Considerate

D) Generous

5. How do the townspeople react to seeing Billy when he first arrives to pick up the dogs?

A) They greet him warmly.

B) They are openly hostile.

C) They pass quiet judgment.

D) They pretend not to see him.

6. What is revealed about the Marshal’s character when he suggests a flavor of soda pop to Billy?

A) It shows that he is compassionate.

B) It shows that he is impatient.

C) It shows that he is domineering.

D) It shows that he is sophisticated.

7. What word best describes the mountain lion’s scream in Chapter 5?

A) Musical

B) Piercing

C) Muted

D) Annoying

8. What best describes Billy’s emotional response while on his first hunt with Old Dan and Little Ann?

A) He feels disappointed.

B) He feels a lack of confidence.

C) He feels anxious.

D) He feels overcome with joy.

9. What conviction is reinforced for Billy when the wind blows down the giant sycamore in Chapter 9?

A) His faith in God

B) His belief in luck

C) His belief in karma

D) His faith in nature

10. What best describes Mama’s feelings about Billy’s hunting?

A) Excited

B) Anxious

C) Confused

D) Disappointed

11. What does Old Dan do when Billy tries to take him hunting without Little Ann?

A) He gets sick.

B) He runs away.

C) He refuses to go.

D) He hunts well.

12. How does Rubin’s death impact Billy?

A) He cries and feels sorrowful.

B) He feels apathetic and aloof.

C) He is confused and shocked.

D) He feels sick and cannot hunt.

13. According to Billy, what does the noise of more than one screech owl mean?

A) Nearby danger

B) Bad luck

C) Good fortune

D) Good hunting

14. What best describes Papa and Grandpa’s opinions about Old Dan and Little Ann’s chances of winning the hunting tournament?

A) Skepticism

B) Optimism

C) Hopelessness

D) Confidence

15. What detail from the text best supports Mama’s response to receiving the tournament prize money?

A) “I saw the color drain from her face.”

B) “I could hear the clock ticking away.”

C) “There was a celebration in our home that night.”

D) “I saw [Papa] put his arm around Mama.”

Long Answer

Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.

1. Why does Billy commit to chopping down “the giant,” the tree in which Old Dan and Little Ann tree their first raccoon?

2. Describe Old Dan and Little Ann’s relationship to each other. What details from the text best show their connection?