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Overview
Skunks, woodchucks, a crow named Poe, an 18-foot, half-finished canoe in the living room...welcome to the North home! Rascal is only a baby when Sterling brings him home to join the menagerie, but soon raccoon and boy are best friends, doing everything together-until the spring day when Sterling realizes things must change.The author recalls his carefree life in a small midwestern town at the close of World War I, and his adventures with his pet raccoon, Rascal.
Synopsis
Rascal is only a baby when young Sterling brings him home. He and the mischievous raccoon are best friends for a perfect year of adventure—until the spring day when everything suddenly changes.
A Newbery Honor Book
School Library Journal
Gr 2-6-At 11 years of age, Sterling North found himself the caretaker of a baby raccoon. His long-enjoyed Newbery Honor book (Dutton, 1963) provides the details of a year in the life of a boy and a raccoon. Set in 1918, Sterling's father is often absent and perpetually involved in research for a novel about Fox and Winnebago Indians. Sterling's mother is deceased, and he is often left to his own devices. Rascal therefore enjoys such comforts as sleeping in Sterling's bed and attending the county fair. As Rascal ages, Sterling is aware that the raccoon is having normal springtime urges and is not happy residing in the pen Sterling was forced to construct. Storyteller Jim Weiss narrates at a leisurely pace without sound effects or musical accompaniment. His very slightly stilted inflection delivers the story as a reminiscence rather than events related by a young boy. The audio rendering of this beloved animal story will please the tale's admirers and win fans new to the timeless adventure.-Fritz Mitnick, Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw, PA