One of the most memorable things about elementary school was when my teacher would read a book to the whole class. It started back in kindergarten when Miss Aramaki read stories to us. In first grade I remember Mrs. Brumba reading a story to us called, “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” In second grade Mrs. Rowland read The Boxcar Children and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In fourth grade, Mrs. Yeager read several of the Happy Hollister books. Mr. Wood’s reading of Jonathan Livingston Seagull in sixth grade was also good. But the one I remember most is the book, Where the Red Fern Grows, that Mrs. Church read to me and the rest of my class in third grade.
Mrs. Church always read to us. Each day she read at least one chapter from some book. We went through a wildlife series where the plot was based on one particular animal and its struggle for existence. But one day she announced that the next book she would read to us would be Where the Red Fern Grows. She didn’t tell us much about it, just that it was about a boy and some dogs.
I was excited to start this new book. I didn’t know what a fern was, and I didn’t really know the names for various breeds of dogs, so I just assumed that a Red Fern was a sort of dog. I went home and told my mom that Mrs. Church was going to read a book to us called ‘‘Where the Red Fern Goes.”
Mom just laughed. She said, “I think it is called ‘Where the Red Fern Grows’. A fern is a plant, not a dog.”
I thought that sounded strange to talk about dogs but name the book after a plant. I decided to pay attention to the book and find out what it all meant.
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