Loyalty and Friendship

Are you familiar with the phrase dog is a man’s best friend? There’s so much we can learn from animals! Animals can show us how to be kind, compassionate, loyal, friendly, and hardworking. Through the lens of a horse, a boy, and two dogs, let’s see what animals will teach us in these two award-winning books.
 
Day and Time: Thursdays, 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM ET
Class Duration: 4 Weeks
Dates: November 14, 2024 - December 12, 2024
Recommended for: Ages 11+ / Grades 6-7
Teacher: TTK Faculty
Required materials: 
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
 
Black Beauty, by Anna Sewell
A jet-black young colt, Black Beauty, spends his early years in a cozy meadow growing up with a gentle master, a strong mother, and an ideal upbringing. Through the years, he changes hands with different masters–some rough, some kind, some indifferent. Black Beauty’s experiences throughout his life give him lessons on real friendship, loss, hardship, and human nature. Gallop with Black Beauty as he grows into a worn yet mature and handsome, dutiful and loyal old horse.
 
Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
 
Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan’s brawn, Little Ann’s brains, and Billy’s sheer will seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters—now friends—and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair, and that the seeds of the future can come from the scars of the past.
 
See more literature classes: thethinkingkid.org/literature
See more classes for ages 11+ / grades 6-7: thethinkingkid.org/grades-6-7