The protagonist in The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings is Jody Baxter, a 12 year old boy. Since it is 1870 in the widely unsettled central Florida area Jody works on his family's farm and doesn't attend a formal school. He is the only child in the family and his father goes easy on him because in some respects he wants Jody to enjoy his childhood. Jody wants a friend, but can't seem to find any in the animals that are on the farm. When he visits some other kids from a neighboring farm (they live quite a distance away) one of the children has a fawn that they are raising. They give it to Jody and it becomes his best friend.
