The Yearling

'The Yearling' is a dramatic novel written by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. It won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. The story follows the life of Young Jody Baxter, who lives with his parents, Ora and Ezra "Penny" Baxter, on a small farm in the backwoods of central Florida in the 1870s. His parents had six other children before him, but they died in infancy. His mother has difficulty bonding with the boy. Jody loves the outdoors and his family. He has wanted a pet for as long as he can remember, but his mother says that they barely have enough food to feed themselves, let alone a pet.