page_title: Wilson Rawls
section_title: Later adulthood
hierarchical_section_title: Wilson Rawls / Later adulthood
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of characters in “Where The Red Fern Grows” at the Public Library in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Entitled ‘“Dreams Can Come True” Wilson Rawls author of Where The Red Fern Grows.’ Sculpture by Marilyn Hoff Hansen
context_page_description: Woodrow Wilson Rawls, was an American writer best known for his books Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys.
context_section_description: Rawls wrote the novels Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys.
  Even though Rawls's novels received much praise, he was perhaps most influential as a motivational speaker. Rawls visited 2,000 schools in 22 states before being diagnosed with cancer in 1983. Although Rawls and his wife had no children, he felt that he had many children in his fans. He once commented,
  "Children are always asking me what advice I can give them on trying to be a writer. I always tell them to do a lot of reading, read and study creative writing, then start writing and keep writing and then they can be a writer too. Someday they will make it if they don’t give up."
  The only audience of his first sand-scribbled stories was his pet, a Bluetick Coonhound.
caption: Statue of characters in "Where The Red Fern Grows" at the Public Library in Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Entitled ‘"Dreams Can Come True" Wilson Rawls author of Where The Red Fern Grows.’ Sculpture by Marilyn Hoff Hansen
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