Big Red

Jim Kjelgaard authored more than 40 novels in his lifetime. His most famous and successful publication was his 1945 young adult adventure novel, Big Red. The protagonist Danny Pickett’s adventures in the Wintapi wilderness echo Kjelgaard’s upbringing on “a Pennsylvania mountain farm” (256) where he lived with his parents and siblings. From a young age, Kjelgaard developed a keen understanding of, and appreciation for, his childhood Black Forest environment, which is reflected in novels like Big Red. Like Danny, Kjelgaard also had a close relationship with his father, who taught him how to run trap lines, dig ditches, pitch hay, and run the “transit for the county surveyor” (257). Kjelgaard’s descriptions in the source text’s Afterword, “Jim Kjelgaard on Jim Kjelgaard,” place precedence on paternal and familial relationships. These dynamics feature heavily in Big Red and contribute to Danny’s coming-of-age journey.

Kjelgaard’s love for reading and writing developed in childhood and adolescence. Although Kjelgaard didn’t have a traditional academic education, the source text’s Afterword remarks upon Kjelgaard’s youthful appetite for literature. He “read everything he could get his hands on,” a pastime which fostered his lifelong desire “to become a writer” (257).