Rascal (book)
Encyclopedia
Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era, often referred to as Rascal, is a 1963 children's book by Sterling North
about his childhood in Wisconsin
.
, a "ringtailed wonder" charmer that dominates almost every page. The book begins with the capture of the baby raccoon, and follows his growth to a yearling.
The story is also a personal chronicle of the era of change between the (nearly) untouched forest wilderness and agriculture; between the days of the pioneers and the rise of towns; and between horse-drawn transportation and automobiles, among other transitions. The author's through-a-boy's-eyes view of his observations during expeditions in and around his home town, contrasted with his father's reminiscences of the time "when Wisconsin was still half wilderness, when panthers sometimes looked in through the windows, and the whippoorwills called all night long", provide a glimpse of the past, as the original subtitle suggests.
The book is filled with humorous moments. His sister Theo cannot understand Sterling's building of a canoe in the living room and is "startled nearly out of her wits" when Rascal, who had been lying on and blending into Uncle Justus
' Amazonian jaguar rug, stands up. Later in the book, Rascal joins him in a pie eating contest, and they win, but are disqualified, although his friend, Oscar Sunderland, takes first prize because of it. Rascal also enjoyed riding in his bicycle's basket, and helped him sell magazines by creating an animated sideshow.
The book also has serious moments. The author's brother Herschel is serving in the military during World War I
, and Sterling longs for a word from him. Rascal is confined after he bites an annoying lad who snaps him with a rubber band. Later, Sterling catches a mild case of the Spanish flu
during the epidemic. (It is stated in the book that his Aunt Alice, who took care of him during his sickness, said that Sterling's mother had wanted him to be a writer, which he achieved.)
Eventually the problems with Rascal's raids into fields and henhouses become too much of an issue; the neighbors' irritation with the boy's pet can no longer be ignored. In addition, Rascal has become a young adult and, as such, is getting attention from jealous male and interested female raccoons. Sterling realizes that Rascal is a wild animal and can no longer be kept, unless always kept in a cage. He travels in the newly completed canoe to release Rascal in the woods at the far side of the nearby lake.
The author's sister, the strait-laced poet and art historian Jessica Nelson North
, is one note of early 1900s normalcy in the book. She wasn't particularly pleased with how her brother portrayed her family in Rascal (yet was proud of her brother's achievement, regardless).
The theme of Rascal is not friendship, but loss, and the transcendence of it. Sterling loses his mother, the attention of his father, his brother to war, and eventually his best friend, Rascal, but survives and learns from it.
movie Rascal
in 1969 starring Bill Mumy
as Sterling North. The film also featured the voice of Walter Pidgeon
as the reminiscing grown Sterling North, Steve Forrest as his father Willard and Pamela Toll as his sister Theo.
It was also made into a 52-episode Japanese anime
entitled Araiguma Rasukaru
. The success of the animated series was responsible for the accidental introduction of the raccoon into Japan.
(known as Brailsford Junction in the book), is preserved as a museum. The author's daughter, Arielle North Olson
, a respected children's author in her own right, is an honorary director of the museum. Rascal related items at the museum include: the high chair where Rascal tied to eat the sugar cube, the barn where Rascal's entrance hole has been patched, the oak tree where Rascal stayed, Sterling's scratched sentiment of "Damn Kaiser Bill" on the barn (his brother was serving in WWI), Sterling's initials painted inside the garage with the same green paint that went on his canoe, and a recreation of the chicken wire screen protecting their Christmas tree.
Other nearby locations mentioned in the book are Lake Koshkonong
, the Rock River, and the Indianford
dam.
for the canoe that North built at his childhood home is displayed in the museum of the Albion Academy in Albion, Wisconsin. The canoe, unfortunately, was destroyed in the 1960s fire of Kumlien Hall.
World Children's Art Museum in Japan created an exhibition entitled "A Retrospective Rascal". 50,000 people toured the display, timed to correspond to Sterling's 100th birthday and the 30th anniversary of the anime, Araiguma Rasukaru, which was based on the book. The canoe paddle was specially sent to Japan to be the centerpiece of the exhibit. Many other items borrowed from individuals in the Edgerton area were displayed.
Sterling North
Thomas Sterling North was an American author of books for children and adults, including 1963's bestselling Rascal. North, who professionally went by "Sterling North", was born on the second floor of a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, a few miles from Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1906, and...
about his childhood in Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
Publication
Rascal was published in 1963. The book is a remembrance of a year in his childhood during which he raised a baby raccoon named "Rascal."Plot summary
Subtitled "a memoir of a better era," North's book is a prose poem to adolescent angst. Rascal chronicles young Sterling's loving yet distant relationship with his father, dreamer David Willard North, and the aching loss represented by the death of his mother, Elizabeth Nelson North. (The book also touches on young Sterling's concerns for his older brother Herschel, who is in Europe fighting in World War One). The boy reconnects with society through the unlikely intervention of his pet raccoonRaccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
, a "ringtailed wonder" charmer that dominates almost every page. The book begins with the capture of the baby raccoon, and follows his growth to a yearling.
The story is also a personal chronicle of the era of change between the (nearly) untouched forest wilderness and agriculture; between the days of the pioneers and the rise of towns; and between horse-drawn transportation and automobiles, among other transitions. The author's through-a-boy's-eyes view of his observations during expeditions in and around his home town, contrasted with his father's reminiscences of the time "when Wisconsin was still half wilderness, when panthers sometimes looked in through the windows, and the whippoorwills called all night long", provide a glimpse of the past, as the original subtitle suggests.
The book is filled with humorous moments. His sister Theo cannot understand Sterling's building of a canoe in the living room and is "startled nearly out of her wits" when Rascal, who had been lying on and blending into Uncle Justus
Justus Henry Nelson
The Revd Justus Henry Nelson established the first Protestant church in the Amazon basin and was a self-supporting Methodist missionary in Belém, Pará, Brazil for 45 years.-Early years:...
' Amazonian jaguar rug, stands up. Later in the book, Rascal joins him in a pie eating contest, and they win, but are disqualified, although his friend, Oscar Sunderland, takes first prize because of it. Rascal also enjoyed riding in his bicycle's basket, and helped him sell magazines by creating an animated sideshow.
The book also has serious moments. The author's brother Herschel is serving in the military during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and Sterling longs for a word from him. Rascal is confined after he bites an annoying lad who snaps him with a rubber band. Later, Sterling catches a mild case of the Spanish flu
Spanish flu
The 1918 flu pandemic was an influenza pandemic, and the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus . It was an unusually severe and deadly pandemic that spread across the world. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin...
during the epidemic. (It is stated in the book that his Aunt Alice, who took care of him during his sickness, said that Sterling's mother had wanted him to be a writer, which he achieved.)
Eventually the problems with Rascal's raids into fields and henhouses become too much of an issue; the neighbors' irritation with the boy's pet can no longer be ignored. In addition, Rascal has become a young adult and, as such, is getting attention from jealous male and interested female raccoons. Sterling realizes that Rascal is a wild animal and can no longer be kept, unless always kept in a cage. He travels in the newly completed canoe to release Rascal in the woods at the far side of the nearby lake.
The author's sister, the strait-laced poet and art historian Jessica Nelson North
Jessica Nelson North
Jessica Nelson North was an American author, poet and editor.- Early life and family :Jessica Nelson North was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the daughter of David Willard North and Sarah Elizabeth "Elizabeth" North. She grew up on the shore of Lake Koshkonong near to what later became St...
, is one note of early 1900s normalcy in the book. She wasn't particularly pleased with how her brother portrayed her family in Rascal (yet was proud of her brother's achievement, regardless).
The theme of Rascal is not friendship, but loss, and the transcendence of it. Sterling loses his mother, the attention of his father, his brother to war, and eventually his best friend, Rascal, but survives and learns from it.
Awards
- Dutton Animal Book AwardDutton Animal Book AwardDutton Animal Book Award was an American literary award established in 1963 by publisher E. P. Dutton to recognize a previously unpublished work of fiction or non-fiction relating to animals. The reward for the winner was a $7,500 to $15,000 advanced against royalties after publication of the book...
- 1963 - Newbery Honor - 1964
- Lewis Carroll Shelf AwardLewis Carroll Shelf AwardThe Lewis Carroll Shelf Award was started in 1958 by Dr. David C. Davis with the assistance of Prof. Lola Pierstorff, Director Instructional Materials Center, Univ. of Wisconsin and Madeline Allen Davis, WHA Wisconsin Public Radio. Awards were presented annually at the Wisconsin Book Conference...
- 1964 - Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book AwardDorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book AwardThe Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award is an annual award for new American children's books, given in Vermont and named after Vermont author Dorothy Canfield Fisher. The winning book is chosen by the vote of Vermont schoolchildren....
- 1965 - Sequoyah Book AwardSequoyah Book AwardThe Sequoyah Children's Book Award is given each year to the book that is selected by Oklahoma students in 3rd-5th grades as their favorite. The Sequoyah Young Adult Award , which is voted for by Oklahoma students in 6th-8th grades, was created in 1988...
- 1966 - William Allen White Children's Book AwardWilliam Allen White Children's Book AwardThe William Allen White Children's Book Award is an annual book award chosen by Kansas students. It was established by Ruth Garver Gagliardo in 1952, in memory of William Allen White and is administered by Emporia State University. It was the first statewide readers' choice book award in the United...
- 1966 - Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader's Choice AwardYoung Reader's Choice AwardThe Young Reader's Choice Award is an annual book award chosen by students from the Pacific Northwest. It is run by the Pacific Northwest Library Association, and was established in 1940, making it the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada....
. - 1966
Derivative works
It was made into the DisneyThe Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
movie Rascal
Rascal (film)
Rascal is a film that was released in 1969 by Walt Disney Pictures.-Synopsis:The movie is based on Sterling North's 1963 "memoir of a better era." North, born near Edgerton, Wisconsin, was a former literary editor for newspapers in Chicago and New York...
in 1969 starring Bill Mumy
Bill Mumy
Charles William "Bill" Mumy, Jr. is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist and a figure in the science-fiction community. He is known primarily for his work as a child television actor....
as Sterling North. The film also featured the voice of Walter Pidgeon
Walter Pidgeon
Walter Davis Pidgeon was a Canadian actor, who starred in many motion pictures, including Mrs...
as the reminiscing grown Sterling North, Steve Forrest as his father Willard and Pamela Toll as his sister Theo.
It was also made into a 52-episode Japanese anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
entitled Araiguma Rasukaru
Araiguma Rascal
is a Japanese anime series by Nippon Animation. It is based on the 1963 autobiographical novel "Rascal, A Memoir of a Better Era" by Sterling North.-Music:...
. The success of the animated series was responsible for the accidental introduction of the raccoon into Japan.
The Sterling North Museum and book locations
The setting of the book, their childhood home in Edgerton, WisconsinEdgerton, Wisconsin
Edgerton is a city in Dane and Rock Counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 4,933 at the 2000 census. Known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A.," because of the importance of tobacco growing in the region, Edgerton continues to be a center for the declining tobacco industry in the...
(known as Brailsford Junction in the book), is preserved as a museum. The author's daughter, Arielle North Olson
Arielle North Olson
-Family:Arielle is the daughter of noted author Sterling North, who wrote Rascal. She is also the niece of author, poet and editor Jessica Nelson North. She is one of the copyright owners of Sterling North's body of work. She now has 3 children and 7 grandchildren, and is a resident of St. Louis,...
, a respected children's author in her own right, is an honorary director of the museum. Rascal related items at the museum include: the high chair where Rascal tied to eat the sugar cube, the barn where Rascal's entrance hole has been patched, the oak tree where Rascal stayed, Sterling's scratched sentiment of "Damn Kaiser Bill" on the barn (his brother was serving in WWI), Sterling's initials painted inside the garage with the same green paint that went on his canoe, and a recreation of the chicken wire screen protecting their Christmas tree.
Other nearby locations mentioned in the book are Lake Koshkonong
Lake Koshkonong
Lake Koshkonong is a reservoir in southern Wisconsin. It lies along the Rock River, . down-river from Fort Atkinson, primarily in southwestern Jefferson County, although small portions of the lake extend into southeastern Dane and northern Rock counties....
, the Rock River, and the Indianford
Indianford, Rock County, Wisconsin
Indianford is an unincorporated community located in the town of Fulton in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States, on the Rock River.-Notes:...
dam.
The Canoe Paddle
The canoe paddle created by Sterling NorthSterling North
Thomas Sterling North was an American author of books for children and adults, including 1963's bestselling Rascal. North, who professionally went by "Sterling North", was born on the second floor of a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, a few miles from Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1906, and...
for the canoe that North built at his childhood home is displayed in the museum of the Albion Academy in Albion, Wisconsin. The canoe, unfortunately, was destroyed in the 1960s fire of Kumlien Hall.
Okazaki Retrospective
In 2008, the OkazakiOkazaki, Aichi
is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. As of August 2011, the city had an estimated population of 373,339 and a population density of 964 persons per km². The total area was 387.24 km².-Geography:...
World Children's Art Museum in Japan created an exhibition entitled "A Retrospective Rascal". 50,000 people toured the display, timed to correspond to Sterling's 100th birthday and the 30th anniversary of the anime, Araiguma Rasukaru, which was based on the book. The canoe paddle was specially sent to Japan to be the centerpiece of the exhibit. Many other items borrowed from individuals in the Edgerton area were displayed.