While his novel Where the Red Fern Grows has been read and loved by countless students, the impressive and unusual story behind its creation is less well known. A member of the Cherokee nation, Woodrow “Woody” Wilson Rawls grew up on an Oklahoma farm, where he spent much of his time outdoors. He was captivated by The Call of the Wild, the book that “made Woody a reader.” It also made him want to be a writer, but his family was poor, and Woody left school to look for work. He spent much of his adulthood in and out of jail for theft, but all the while he wrote for his own pleasure, never sharing his stories with anyone. Finally, he confided in his wife, Sophie. “I told her I had this great and awful desire to write.” It was Sophie’s encouragement (and willingness to proofread his work) that persuaded Woody to write a new draft of one of his old stories—a story about a boy and his dogs—and try to get it published. Well-chosen quotations and a straightforward narrative style illuminate the long, hard path taken by this writer to realize his lifelong dream.