Rewind book: 'Old Yeller' by Fred Gipson

For some, the opening sentence is enough: "We call him Old Yeller." Grown men blubber, women reach for their handkerchiefs, captains of industry excuse themselves and stare out of the window. Fred Gipson's 1956 bestseller has become one of literature's great weepies, exploiting that most intense of relationships: a young boy's love for man's best friend.

Set in Texas in the late 1860s, the novel begins with a frank prophecy of the emotional pain to come. Our narrator, a young boy called Travis Coates, remembers the moment a dog strays into their cabin on Birdsong Creek, seemingly out of nowhere. "He made me so mad at first that I wanted to kill him. Then, later, when I had to kill him, it was like having to shoot some of my own folks. That's how much I'd come to think of the big yeller dog." Gulp.

As so often happens in fairy tales, Travis is quickly made a de facto adult, after his father, desperate for "cash money", leaves the family home to go on a cattle drive.

Travis is left to run the family ranch somewhat ahead of his time. Unlike his mother, he doesn't hesitate when his papa sets off.

For the time being, Travis has a farm to run. Enter Old Yeller to lend a helping paw. First, Travis has to get over that initial burst of fury after Old Yeller snaffles some pork destined for the Coates' dinner. Our hero is angry enough to reach for his gun, and only the intervention of younger brother Arliss saves our canine in time. Soon, however, Old Yeller is proving his worth - chasing raccoons from the corn field and skunks from the food supply. His real owner arrives to claim him, but even he can see the bond that has grown between dog and boy. Having saved his master from a nasty incident with some irate wild hogs, Old Yeller then intervenes between mother Coates and a crazed wolf.

And here is where the crying can begin. For the wolf is rabid - and fairly soon so is Old Yeller. Travis faces a heart-rending choice: to watch his beloved dog die in agony, or finish his suffering by ending his life. The final pages are moving in the extreme, helped by Gipson's plain-speaking prose. There is a glint of light at the end of the tunnel. Old Yeller dies but not without bequeathing a new generation. The only thing a boy loves more than a dog is a litter of puppies. Gipson has shown that life may be hard, but there is always new birth and another day.