When Was The Last Time YOU Cried? (Semi-Spoiler Alert... Where The Red Fern Grows)

I'm a crier.  I admit it.  I cry a lot!  I cry when I'm happy, I cry when I'm sad.  I cry over movies.  I cry at church.  I cry at weddings and funerals.  You get the idea.

But there is one thing I have never cried over.... until now.  I have never cried over a book.

This week I did.

My son was reading Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls for his sixth-grade class.  Even though he's twelve, he likes when I read aloud.  We like to alternate.... he'll read a chapter out loud, then I'll read a chapter out loud.

I'll admit: in the beginning of the book, I was thinking it was a tad outdated.  But by the second chapter, I was enjoying it much more than I thought I would.

Red Fern is a classic American tale about a boy who has a dream to own hounds and teach them to hunt coons.  It takes place in a bygone era, set in the Ozark Mountains.

The story is simple, clean, and moving.  And it made me bawl like a baby.  I'm not kidding.  By the last three chapters, the tears were streaming down my face.  I haven't been so moved by a book in a very long time!  And I have never, I repeat - NEVER cried over a book.

I will not say exactly what put me over the edge.  (I'm sure if you haven't read the book, you might be able to guess what happens in the end.)  But this has never happened to me before.  I've read all kinds of books, stories, articles... whatever.  Romances, chick-lit, literature... you name it.

Something about Red Fern just hit me the right way.  Maybe because I had a hound (Daisy) for 8 years, and just last year I had no choice but to put her down?  I guess I could relate to the way Billy felt about his hounds Old Dan & Little Ann?  The love, the loyalty when you look into those soulful big brown eyes?

Where The Red Fern Grows was a classic, innocent, coming-of-age story.  I loved it.  My son liked it (which is saying a lot because, like the rest of my household, he is not a big reader.  So when he admits he "liked" a book, I consider it a success!).
Don't be surprised if you too find yourself sniffling at the end.

How about you guys?  Have you ever cried over a book?  Which ones?