Stone Fox

Stone Fox

• Genre: Fiction; middle grade adventure
• Originally Published: 1980
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 610L; grades 2-6
• Structure/Length: 10 chapters; approx. 96 pages; approx. 58 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Little Willy lives on a farm in Wyoming with his grandfather and dog, Searchlight. When his grandfather refuses to get out of bed, Willy and Searchlight work to save him by plowing the fields and harvesting potatoes. When Willy learns that his grandfather owes $500 in taxes, he and Searchlight set off to win a dog sled race with a $500 prize to save the farm.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Animal death; mental illness

John Reynolds Gardiner, Author

• Bio: 1944-2006; born in Los Angeles, California; known as a rebellious boy whose teachers believed he would never get anywhere in life; earned master’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles; worked as an engineer; ran Num Num Novelties, a novelty store; lived in West Germany, El Salvador, Mexico, Italy, Ireland, and Idaho; his first book, Stone Fox, has sold over four million copies and was adapted into a feature film
• Other Works: Top Secret (1984); General Butterfingers (1986); How to Live a Life That’s Not Boring (2004)
• Awards:  New York Times Outstanding Book (1980); Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award (Minnesota, 1980); Utah Beehive Award (1985)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Sacrifice as Declarations of Devotion
• Society’s Failure to Care for People in Need
• Perseverance and Kindness as Vital Tenets of Success

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the social and cultural contexts regarding financial hardship that incite Little Willy’s conflict.
• Analyze paired texts and other resources to make connections via the text’s themes of Devotion, People in Need, and Perseverance and Kindness.
• Plan and construct visual media to help Little Willy save his farm based on novel details.
• Analyze and evaluate the plot and character details to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the novel’s title, Willy’s grandfather, and other topics.