62 pages • 2 hours read
John Reynolds GardinerStone Fox
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1980A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
BetaChapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Grandfather”
Little Willy is a 10-year old boy who lives with his grandfather on their “small potato farm in Wyoming” (6). Grandfather frequently plays pranks on Willy, and together, they often laugh, sing, and play. The farm takes a great deal of time and energy to care for, however, and Grandfather is usually up before the sun rises. It is routine for Grandfather to wake Willy every morning. Once, Willy overslept and Grandfather fed his breakfast to the chickens. One morning, when Grandfather doesn’t get out of bed, the little boy believes Grandfather is playing a prank on him.
Grandfather refuses to get out of bed, and Willy runs out of the house to fetch Doc Smith. Willy heads down the street with Searchlight, their old family dog. Searchlight was born when Willy was and has black fur with “a white spot on her forehead the size of a silver dollar” (6). Doc Smith initially thinks that Grandfather is playing another trick, but when she hears that he went to bed the night before without playing on his harmonica, she immediately readies to visit him. Little Willy hitches Doc Smith’s horse, Rex, up to the wagon, and they head back to the farm. When they get there, Doc Smith examines Grandfather and finds nothing physically wrong with him. She asks Little Willy if they owe any debts to anyone and eventually tells him that Grandfather has given up on life and no longer wishes to live. Little Willy swears to find out what’s wrong and fix it.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Little Willy”
Despite being only 10 years old, Willy does his best to run the farm while Grandfather is unwell. Grandfather has been especially concerned with the potato crop this season, and Willy believes that once he harvests the potatoes his grandfather’s condition will improve. Doc Smith disagrees and tries to convince Willy to come and live with her while a nurse from town cares for Grandfather. Doc Smith is certain that a farmer will adopt Searchlight from them as well. Willy protests loudly, insisting that they have to stick together. Searchlight barks in agreement and scares Doc Smith’s horse into motion, pulling the doctor back down the street.
Willy promises Searchlight that he will never leave her and that he loves her. That night, while Willy is playing the harmonica for Grandfather, he learns how to communicate with him. Grandfather sets his palm down to mean “no,” and his palm upwards for “yes.” They devise different hand gestures over the course of the night for water, food, and other necessities.
Willy prepares for the potato harvest the next morning. There is a lot of work to do, most pressing of which is finding a horse to pull the plow. Willy attempts to use their money to loan a horse but discovers that they are entirely broke. Willy is worried, as the longer the potatoes go without harvesting, the higher the chances that the crop will freeze and die.
Grandfather’s friend offers to help, but Willy declines. Willy tries to use the money they have saved up for his college, but Grandfather vehemently protests. Searchlight stands in front of the plow with her harness in her mouth. Though Willy recognizes that Searchlight is not strong enough, together they plow the fields and complete the harvest in 10 days. Willy sells the harvest and gets money for it. He shows it to Grandfather, but the old man is worried about something else.
Chapter 3 Summary: “Searchlight”
Winter arrives in Wyoming, and Willy takes on all the duties on the farm. He buys food for the household from the general store, chops wood, and cooks for them all. Willy returns to school as well. Grandfather wants Willy to go to college one day and has $50 in the bank under Willy’s name for this very reason. Searchlight pulls Willy to and from school on the snow sled every day, and even into town to run errands. Before six each day, Searchlight and Willy ready themselves near the church on Main Street and race home when the church chimes. It is their tradition, and Searchlight is familiar with the road, even in the dark. They race home together on the sled and collapse, exhausted and laughing, in front of the house. They fail to notice a man on their front porch.
Chapters 1-3 Analysis
Chapters 1 through 3 establish the setting of the book and the core cast of characters in the story. Little Willy and his close-knit family live in Wyoming during an undetermined moment of time where money is scarce, and their potato farm fails to bring in enough to keep the farm afloat. Little Willy has an extraordinary amount of responsibility after Grandfather succumbs to what seems to be depression.
Doc Smith attempts to explain to Willy that sometimes people just give up and no longer have the will to live: “[It] starts up here in the mind first; then it spreads to the body. It’s a real sickness, all right. And there’s no cure except in the person’s own mind” (7). Though Grandfather undoubtedly is a kindly figure who cares greatly for Little Willy, his passive role during the entirety of the novel is the primary catalyst for the events that occur. Grandfather’s silence and narrative absence casts a shadow over the first three chapters of the novel. It foreshadows what is to come; Little Willy and Searchlight shoulder the responsibility of harvesting the crops and selling them.
While Searchlight is certainly not a horse, and Little Willy is far from a farmer, both characters adapt into roles that they are not meant to play. They force themselves to inhabit these unsuitable roles in order to save their family and their farm. Little Willy and Searchlight sacrifice greatly for Grandfather; due to the old man’s absence and the negligence of the other adults around them, both characters push themselves to the limit.
Little Willy’s nickname emphasizes his young age, a subtle reminder of the boy’s naivete. Willy must grow up extremely quickly in the short span of the novel. Both he and Searchlight are undoubtedly the heroes of the story, though it is apparent that they should never have needed to be.
