Book Report #5
Nancy Ladd

Section 1: Bibliographic Information

Title and Author: Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Publication Information: Random House Publishing Edition, 1956.

Genre: A book of hard word, growth, humor, and sadness.

Themes: A book that shows both mental and physical growth of a young boy in charge of his family and farm.

Readability: Grade level 7 - 9

Interest Level: Ages 11 - 18

Section 2: Reviews

 

  1. "His first full-length book, was a very successful book of 1956."

    2. - Best Seller List, New York Tribune.

    2. "Old Yeller was the novel that is Gipson’s best work. It success story is in the 3 million copies sold from 1956 - 1973."

    3. "This novel narrates several months in the life of a fourteen year old boy left in charge of the household while his father was away. Though a dog, old Yeller, is given considerable status in the novel Gipson always allows the human element to predominate in his work."

    1. "Gipson made the term Southwest literature legitimate and meaningful and accomplished the rare but admirable feat of turning the lists and pieces of his folklore into good literature for young people."

    - Christian Spotlight, 1832S. Macdonald Street. Mesa, AZ. 1999

     

    Section 3: Awards and Notable Lists
    1. Recipient of the William Allen White Award
    2. The First Sequoyak Award
    3. Television Radio Annual Writers Award
    4. Northwest Pacific Award
    5. President of Texas Institute of Letters
    6. Old Yeller established Gipson’s reputation when it became a Book-of-the Month Club Selection

    - Taken from Yahoo Books

    Section 4: Author Information

    Frederick (Fred) Benjamin Gipson, author, was born on a farm near Mason, Texas, on February 7, 1908, the son of Beck and Emma Deishler Gipson. He graduated from Mason High School in 1926 and after working at a variety of farming and ranching jobs entered the University of Texas in 1933. There he wrote for the Daily Texan and the Ranger, but he left school before graduation to become a reporter for the Corpus Christi Caller – Times in 1937. A year later he worked for the San Angelo Standard Times, then briefly for the Denver Post. Soon afterward he began to sell stories and articles to pulp Western magazines and to such slick magazines as Liberty and Look. By 1944 Gipson had published a story in the Southwest Review. Many of his short stories appearing in that journal in the 1940s were prototypes for the longer works of fiction that followed. The Hill Country writer earned increasing attention for the rapid succession of books that followed: The Home Place (1955); Recollection Creek (1955); Old Yeller (1956); and Savage Sam (1962). Old Yeller was the novel that Gipson considered his best work; it sold nearly three million copies by 1937.

    Taken from – Internet site http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=1&pers-id=2409

     

    Section 5: Plot Summary

    Old Yeller

    By: Fred Gipson

    Travis was the oldest of two children. He had lost his beloved dog Bell. After that he swore never to have another dog. The pain was too great for Travis to bear. Then his father went off, leaving Travis in charge to do the farming and hunting, and to protect his mother and little brother from the dangers of the wild Texas frontier. It proved too big a job for Travis to do alone. It took the help of a big ugly dog called Old Yeller. Old Yeller had appeared out of nowhere.

    Arliss was Travis brother. Travis and Arliss have a close, interdependent relationship.

    Arliss enjoys catching and keeping living creatures. After the "yeller dog" joins the family, Arliss catches even bigger game. Travis soon realized that Old Yeller is actually the catcher. Old Yeller catches a blue catfish, but Arliss pretends that he caught the fish. Arliss and Travis’ mother’s affection for her sons and her understanding of a young boy’s tendency to exaggerate can be seen throughout the book. Travis, on the other hand, fears that Arliss will "grow up to be the biggest liar in Texas."

    Arliss is a typically curious and active boy, intent on his pursuit of living creatures. Arliss, therefore; finds out the hard way that all living creatures are not all alike. Travis hears the coughing roar of a charging she-bear and sees Arliss in the spring hole holding onto the hind leg of her cub. Arliss’ terror transforms him into a small, vulnerable boy, which is a complete change from his carefree, laughing personality. The "she-bear" heard her cub and was coming to save it. Both Travis and his mother are afraid the she-bear will reach Arliss before either he or his mother can. Just as the bear reached the creek bank, Old Yeller attacks, keeping the bear away from Arliss. Travis grabbed Arliss and flings him towards his mother. Old Yeller withstands the bear’s attack until the family is safe. At home, the boys and their mother are shaken but Old Yeller seems unaffected. Travis realizes how much he loves his little brother and Old Yeller. The dog had risked his own life to save them all. As much as Travis hated him in the beginning, he loved that old dog in the end.

    Section 6: Booktalks

    Booktalk #1

    Ask students if they have ever lived on a farm. Ask how many have been to Florida.

    This book, "Old Yeller", by Fred Gipson, is one that many of you can relate.

    A young boy finds himself in charge of a farm, his mother, and his little brother. In many cases the farm proves to be easier to handle than the little brother Arliss. Add a big, stay yellow dog to what Arliss does and trouble begins. Little Arliss and Old Yeller go swimming in the pool of drinking water, when caught Arliss runs to the house minus his clothes.

    Travis has the responsibility of tending the cattle and hogs that roam on the open range. The cattle do not cause much trouble, but branding the wild hogs puts Travis in danger. A squeal from one young pig and all the hogs come running to his rescuer. The only way Travis can remain safe is clinging to an overhead tree limb and reaching down to brand the hogs that run under it.

    With the help of Old Yeller Travis saves Arliss from the grips of a "she-bear" whose cub is in the hands of Arliss and is screaming for help. After the rescue Travis has new feelings for both Arliss and Old Yeller.

    Rabies is running wild through skunks, possum, and rabbits in the area. Travis tells Arliss to leave the wild creatures alone because an overly "tame looking" will probably have the disease and will pass-it-on to anyone it comes in contact with. An animal with rabies bites the family cow and in trying to save the family from her, Old Yeller is hurt.

    If you want to find out what happened to the cow and Old Yeller read the book "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson.

    Props –

    1. Picture of rabid animal
    2. Picture of Arliss with a hold on the cubs foot

    Booktalk #2

    This story opens on a small farm in young America. There are no modern methods of accomplishing a task. Water must be carried daily form the water pool to the kitchen. Clothes are scrubbed on the side of the creek, water lettuce is picked along the creek bank, deer and rabbit are killed for food, and an old mule and Travis put in the crops. Every kernel of corn was that was put in had to be ground by hand. All the grass and weeks were chopped with a homemade hoe. The food they had in the winter depended on the summer crops. After a long day in the fields Travis was ready for a hot meal and a long rest in his "corn-shuck" mattress.

    The arrival of a large yellow stray dog caused a lasting bond between Travis, his little brother Arliss, and Old Yeller.

    The family finds out that Old Yeller actually belonged to a cattle herder brought tears to Arliss eyes and Travis had to blink hard to keep back his own tears. Seeing the sadness of the family the cattle herder let the family keep Old Yeller.

    With Arliss having Old Yeller as a playmate things were a little calmer. To his mothers relief Arliss stopped stuffing his pockets with grass snakes, worms, small "dead" birds that fell from their nest, and bits of fur he picked off of dead rabbit hide.

    Travis’ biggest worry was the lying Arliss did. To hear him tell it he caught a 25-pound catfish in the creek, picked up an entire tree with his bear hands, and dove so deep in the water he found another world. Travis feared Arliss would be "the biggest liar" in Texas.

    When rabies ran through the valley the family had to be on the lookout for animals with the disease. This disease caused you to loose your mind, foam at the mouth and soon die. When a neighbor was bitten he chained himself to a tree, with a large chair and waited to die. By doing this he could protect his family from his madness. A rabid animal bit one old cow of Travis’. To find out what happens after this read "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson.

    Props –

    1. Antique wash board
    2. Contents of Arliss pockets
    3. A large chair

    Section 7: Curriculum Implementation

    Lesson Plan #1

    1. Teacher will read a few paragraphs of "Old Yeller" to get the student’s attention. (Exp. Contents of Arliss pockets, Arliss holding onto the bear cub’s leg, or Arliss running around in front of guest with no clothes).
    2. Put a list of new vocabulary words on the board. (Exp. Branded, vulnerable, charging, catcher, etc.).
    3. Each student will read 2 pages of "Old Yeller" aloud.
    4. At the end of each paragraph will be the time for questions with student responses.

      5. Re-teaching Lesson Plan #1

      1. Have students reread parts they don’t understand.
      2. Have students write a short summary of each chapter.

    Plan #1 – Lesson Incorporated With –

      1. Language
        2.

        Make 2 sentences with each vocabulary word in "Old Yeller". Sentences are to be labeled as compound, complex, or compound-complex.

      2. Science
        3.

        Have students research the disease rabies and the animals most often affected

      3. History
        4.

        Research the farming methods of the 1860’s

      4. Math

    Your teacher will estimate the number of rows in an early farm field and the number of corn kernels per row. Have students calculate the number of kernels needed per field.

      1. P.E.
        2.

        Put students in pairs. Have one student sit on the gem floor. The second student pushes them across the gym. This is to resemble Travis pushing a plow.

      2. Music

    Find a song you like and put words to it that tell the theme of "Old Yeller".

    Lesson Plan #2

    1. Select 10 new words from the book. Have students define these words and use each in a sentence.
    2. Assign each student 2-4 pages of the book. Students are then called on to give an oral summary of the book.
    3. At the end of the summaries each student is to write, at least, a two-page summary of the entire book.

    Plan #2 – Lesson Incorporated With –

    1. Language
      1. Have students write a review of "Old Yeller". Stress the fragments as possible errors, show correct verb tenses, use descriptive writing, and correct use of pronouns.
      2. Use the 10 vocabulary words from reading class. Look these up in a Thesaurus and find at least 2 other words for each.
    2. Science
      1. Given the type of country in the 1860’s compare it to that same area today. Tell of these changes, if any, were natural secession or man created.
      2. Explain how modern farm machinery fertilizer, and different pest controls have changed farming from the 1860’s to present.
    3. P.E.
      4.

      Stretch a rope over a 12-foot span. Relate this to Arliss crossing a creek on a grape vine. Have students hold the rope and try their skill at crossing a make believe creek.

    4. Music
      5.

      As Travis plowed the cornfield he might have been singing. Name 4 tunes of the 1860’s he might have sang or whistled.

    5. History

    Research to find which parts of the U.S. had been given statehood, in the 1800’s. Discuss the life style of this era.

     

     

     

    Section 8: Material on Similar Themes
    1. The Yearling, Margie K. Rawlings. Copyright 1968.
    2. Bears on Hemlock Mountain. Alice Daigliesh. Copyright 1952
    3. Oh, Kentucky. Betty Layman Receveus. Copyright 1967
    4. Tortilla Flat. John Steinbeck. Copyright 1986
    5. Snow Bound. Harry Mazer. Copyright 1906
    6. Little House In The Big Woods. Lora Ingles Wilder. Copyright 1932
    7. Klondike Fever. Suzann Ledbetter. Copyright 1958
    8. Anne of Green Gables. L.M. Montgomery. Copyright 1970
    9. Black Mountain Breakdown. Lee Smith. Copyright 1980
    10. Across Fine Aprils. Irene Hunt. Copyright 1993
    11. The Endless Steppe – A Girl In Exile. Esther Hautzig. Copyright 1968
    12. Cheyenne Autumn. Mari Sandoz. Copyright 1953

     

    Section 9: Bibliography of Material by Same Author

    Books by Fred Gipson:

    1. Cowhand
    2. Hound – dog Man
    3. Hound – dog Man (cassette)
    4. Trail – Driving Rooster
    5. Cowpokes Wanted
    6. Cow Killers
    7. Big Bend: A Homesteader’s Story
    8. Little Arliss
    9. Curly and the Wild Boar
    10. Savage Sam
    11. Old Yeller (cassette)
    12. Stirrups High

    Taken from Yahoo! Books