Historical Fiction · WarmA boy adopts an orphaned fawn on a struggling Florida farm
The Yearling
A boy and his pet fawn in the Florida backwoods
The Yearling is set in the Big Scrub, a backwoods area of Florida, in the years after the Civil War. Jody Baxter lives with his parents on a struggling farm, where the family's limited resources make a pet seem out of reach. His life changes when his family allows him to adopt an orphaned fawn, which becomes his constant companion.
More about this book
Who
Jody Baxter, a boy who longs for a pet; his parents Ora and Ezra, called Penny, Baxter; and the neighboring Forrester family, including Jody's friend Fodder-wing.
World
The Big Scrub, a backwoods area of Florida, after the Civil War.
What makes it different
It won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. A 1946 film starred Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, and Claude Jarman Jr. won the Juvenile Award Oscar.
Feel
Tender and rural.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Behind the book
Editor Maxwell Perkins rejected several of Rawlings's projects and advised her to write about what she knew from her own life, which led to this novel.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- The YearlingWikipedia