Old Yeller (Perennial Classics)
by Fred Gipson, Steven Polson
List Price:
Our Price: $2.99
You Save: $6.00 (67%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.95 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Fred Gipson, Steven PolsonBrand: Harper Collins Publishers
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-15
ISBN: 0060935472
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Book Reviews of Old Yeller (Perennial Classics)
Book Review: What Movie?
Summary: 4 Stars
I know that this was made into a movie but I am not sure that I have seen it. I have some vague recollection that it's a Disney movie (so it must therefore be heartwarming, and also be the topic of a ride somewhere), and the actor who plays the protagonist Travis looks goofy. Most folks know the story already or will know it well enough after reading one or two of these reviews. Yes, it's about a boy and an unattractive yellow dog, and yes it has a sad turn of events. I can't say that this story or the storytelling is masterful, but there is a style of delivery in this book that is quite intriguing and no one comments on it. The circumstances of the story are quite rough. A young boy is left in charge of his mother and little brother in the wild Texas hill country while his father, relunctantly, must pursue a little gain on a cattle drive to Kansas. This is no small task, and long before the book is over, we see that at least two or maybe all three of the mother and kids would have died but for the happenstance appearance of said yellow dog (also noteworthy is the generosity and insight of the cowpoke who actually owned the dog but let Travis keep him). The life is hard and matter-of-fact, and the writing reflects it. The animals live in a practically different world, where life depends on instincts, species hate and kill other species and sometimes their own, and even bloodborne diseases have a scent that only dogs can detect. It's brutal. Old Yeller, our hero, bridges this world, and willingly devotes all of his animal kingdom powers for the protection of the humans that he inexplicably adopts and serves. The relationship between boy and dog is always a bit beyond the reader's reach. We never see these two playing fetch or lounging around under a tree. Their bond is one that is forged in combat and hard labor, and this hard practicality might ultimately explain Travis' ability to rationally and quickly make the hard decision to kill his pet. I don't think that it's a spoiler to state here that Travis must, in the end, destroy this animal - Gipson reveals that ending in the very first page of the book (and it is at the point of that destruction where the four great characters of this book - boy, dog, gun, and disease - collide). So, this is a world where the animals are the most cunning, strong, and fearsome, but it's a world that is dominated by Man, and in the end the loyal Old Yeller doesn't even know what hits him. That scene is revealed without sentiment or unnecessary drama.
One other thing. I wonder if it is this book, printed in the late 1950's, that "taught" popular culture everything that it knows about the dreaded hydrophobia. Growing up in the 1970's, I thought that rabies was everywhere, and that the only thing between you and going mad with foaming thirst was the time it would take for any old squirrel to drop on your head and dig in. Of course I also thought that finding a dead Bigfoot was only a matter of time, and that eating Pop-Rocks and drinking a Coke would make your abdomen explode. There must have been some other sources of this rabies phobia though, as this book did not go into any detail about some three week regimine of shots to the belly button in order to cure the disease once afflicted.
Anyway, good book. Read it to my three pre-teens and they loved it.
Summary of Old Yeller (Perennial Classics)
When a novel like Huckleberry Finn, or The Yearling, comes along it defies customary adjectives because of the intensity of the respouse it evokes in the reader. Such a book, we submit, is Old Yeller; to read this eloquently simple story of a boy and his dog in the Texas hill country is an unforgettable and deeply moving experience.
Dogs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Dogs Books
Biscuit Loves Father's Dayby Alyssa Satin Capucilli
HarperFestival; Published: 2004-04-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.12
Price in other shops:
That'll Do, Mossby Betty Levin
Greenwillow Books; Published: 2002-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.01
Price in other shops:
Marley: A Dog Like No Other. John Groganby John Grogan
HarperCollins Children's Books; Published: 2009-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.02
Price in other shops:
Lord Brocktree: A Tale from Redwallby Brian Jacques
Penguin Group USA; Firebird; Published: 2005-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
White Fang (Puffin Classics)by Jack London
Puffin; Published: 1994-11-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops:
The Call of the Wild (Children's Classics)by Jack London
Penguin Audio; Published: 1997-08-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $11.00
No Roses for Harry!by Gene Zion
HarperCollins; Published: 1976-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.32
Price in other shops:
Old Yeller CDby Fred Gipson
Caedmon; Published: 2010-01-05; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.83
Price in other shops:
How to Talk to Your Dogby Jean Craighead George
HarperCollins; Published: 2003-02-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Where the Red Fern Grows (Study Guide)by Anthony Heald
Harcourt School; Published: 1989-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.50
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Indian in the Cupboardby Lynne Reid Banks
Yearling; Yearling; Published: 2010-02-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.39
Price in other shops:
Island of the Blue Dolphinsby Scott O'Dell
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN; Sandpiper; Published: 2010-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
The Call of the Wild (Aladdin Classics)by Jack London
Aladdin; Aladdin; Published: 2003-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.98
Price in other shops:
Where the Red Fern Growsby Wilson Rawls
Yearling; Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Published: 1996-05-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.60
Price in other shops:
Summer of the Monkeysby Wilson Rawls
Yearling; Yearling; Published: 1998-12-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.23
Price in other shops:
The Yearling (Aladdin Classics)by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Aladdin; Published: 2001-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
White Fangby Jack London
Prestwick House, Inc.; Published: 2007-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
The Incredible Journeyby Sheila Burnford
Yearling; Published: 1997-01-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.80
Price in other shops:
White Fang (Dover Thrift Editions)by Jack London
Dover Publications; Dover Publications; Published: 1991-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.44
Price in other shops:
Where the Red Fern Growsby Wilson Rawls
Yearling; Yearling; Published: 1996-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: