I randomly selected this book from the list I posted yesterday. I knew very little about it, just that it was most often on reading lists for older children.
Coming to this book in 2021 was very different than if I had read this when I was a kid. The main subject is hunting and a rather grisly form of hunting at that! The author was born in 1918 and clearly has a great fondness for coon dogs and racoon hunting. He also seems to be a Christian and proud American as well. All of these things are handled gracefully and I can see why it was seen as a children's book. The killings are mostly off-screen and there is no romance. Even most of the challenges the main character takes on are described as almost easy.
It is a pleasant story, couched as the reminiscence of an older man back to a time he remembered fondly from his childhood. But, it is also the story of a very young boy who trains two dogs to kill hundreds of animals for their pelts. Sad ending, too. I have very mixed feelings about it. It has some of the same feel as To Kill a Mockingbird although there are no racial overtones here, and no moral lessons beyond "dogs love people". And a little bit of "God answers prayers mostly".
I was able to check this out of my local library electronically and it is a short book. I don't feel the time spent reading it was wasted.
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