About the Author

Wilson Rawls grew up on a small farm in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma. There were no schools where he lived so his mother taught Rawls and his sisters how to read and write. He says that reading the book The Call of the Wild changed his life and gave him the notion that he would like to grow up to write a book like it. He shared his dream with his father, and his father gave him the encouraging advice, "Son, a man can do anything he sets out to do, if he doesn't give up." Rawls never forgot his father's words, and went on to create two novels about his boyhood that have become modern classics.

Reviews

Praise for Where the Red Fern Grows

A Top 100 Children’s Novel, School Library Journal
A Must-Read for Kids 9 to 14, NPR
A Great American Read's Selection (PBS)
Winner of Multiple State Awards
Over 14 million copies in print!

“One of the great classics of children’s literature . . . Any child who doesn’t get to read this beloved and powerfully emotional book has missed out on an important piece of childhood for the last 40-plus years.” —Common Sense Media

“A rewarding book . . . [with] careful, precise observation, all of it rightly phrased....Very touching.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A book of unadorned naturalness.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
 “An exciting tale of love and adventure you’ll never forget.” —School Library Journal
“Written with so much feeling and sentiment that adults as well as children are drawn [in] with a passion.” —Arizona Daily Star

“It’s a story about a young boy and his two hunting dogs and . . . I can’t even go on without getting a little misty.” —The Huffington Post
 
“We tear up just thinking about it.” —Time on the film adaptation