A boy and his dogs. A kid's novel. And it's a real tear jerker.
Is this one really an interesting text for animal theorists? You better believe it.
Children's literature isn't just kid stuff—consider all the ways in which your early cultural experiences shaped your adult ideas of the world. In Where The Red Fern Grows, Billy has a bunch of purebred dogs, and the way that they fight for him (they even kind of sacrifice themselves for him) means that this novel is full of meaningful material for an animal studies scholars.