Skunks, woodchucks, a crow named Poe, an absent-minded father, an eighteen foot, half-finished canoe in the living room—welcome to the North home! Nothing’s surprising at the North residence. Not even eleven-year-old Sterling’s new pet raccoon. Rascal is only a baby when young Sterling brings him home to join his unusual family. The mischievous raccoon and Sterling are partners and best friends for a perfect year of adventure—swimming, fishing, exploring the countryside together—until the spring day when everything suddenly changes and Sterling realizes he must let Rascal go. This heartwarming and delightful memoir of a boy’s friendship with a wild animal, and his growing awareness of the world around him, has become a treasured classic. Rascal has taken his place among literature’s most captivating and endearing animals.

A Newbery Honor Book

An ALA Notable Children’s Book

A NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book

Customer Rating:
Summary: Magical Book From a Better Era
Comment: It was in 1968, exactly fifty years after Sterling North befriended his little raccoon, that I first read this captivating story. I was ten years old, and the book was an abridged version called "Little Rascal." Just before the Disney movie came out, in 1969, I read the complete "Rascal." Then saw the movie. I've read the book several times since, including just last week.

This story mesmerized me so much that, for several years, I was obsessed with getting my own pet raccoon. I eventually did, at age eleven, the same age that North adopted Rascal. A few years later, while visiting my aunt in New Jersey, I actually telephoned Mr. North, who was retired and living in Morristown (his wife said he was very ill, but told me she'd tell him I called. He sadly passed away not long afterwards).

I'm not sure why I was so taken with this book, but I know much of it has to do with North's ability to weave a tale. Reading "Rascal" again as an adult reinforces that opinion. There's much more here than a Disney-esque adaptation of boy frolicing with a wild animal. North vividly recreates a bygone time, when hickory and walnut-hunting, whippoorwill sighting, and trotter races weren't corny anachronisms. As a young reviewer astutely noted, his relationship with the lovable, intelligent Rascal was a true friendship. North invested human characteristics in his furry hero, but without stretching credulity or sounding trite. Only eleven, North had already experienced tragedy and stress in his young life - his mother had died when he was seven, his father was attentive but detached, and his brother was far away in France fighting in World War I. Rascal helps pull North into a world of humor and sunshine...and at least one jarring awakening. After seeing a picture of a trapped raccoon on the cover of his fur catalogue, the image of Rascal's gentle, inquisitive hand in a jaw trap is too much for the sensitive boy, and he decides to give up trapping. He declares a "peace" with nature on the same day as Armistice Day. North concludes the chapter with the memorable sentence: "It is perhaps the only peace treaty that was ever kept."

If you're a young person, I know you'll enjoy this beautiful book, many times, like I did. And if you're a parent, read it - no, savor it - for yourself.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Favorite
Comment: I enjoyed this book when I was a boy and now my children love it too. Sterling North paints a delightful picture of rural Wisconsin in 1918. This novel should be required reading in middle school literature.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: favorite book of all time
Comment: Rascal was my favorite book when I was young. I don't have children, but I have since bought countless copies of Rascal for young friends, and have read the book aloud to youngsters on several occasions, part of summer "reading clubs" to keep kids busy when school is out. Rascal is always a big favorite. Any child (or adult) who loves animals, and has ever raised or thought about raising a young wild animal as a domestic pet, will love this book. The stories about the adventures of young Stirling and his smart, inquisitive pets, Rascal the racoon and Poe the crow, have broad appeal to all ages.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Comment: I am an adult who received this delightful book as a birthday present. In 1918, when he was eleven years old, Sterling North rescued a baby raccoon and tamed him into a pet. This book covers the year that he spent with Rascal. What struck me about this book was the vivid, evocative, and emotional language that North uses to bring to life his eccentric family, the small town in which he lived, and the woods and natural settings where he and Rascal had their greatest adventures. Compared to today's youngsters, North, who writes movingly of having lost his mother, had to be incredibly handy, self-reliant, and hard-working. Although obviously kids would love this book (it won the Newberry Award), it isn't dumbed down at all. For anyone who ever dreamed of riding their bike at top speed with a raccoon on the handlebars.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: YAWN!!!!!!!!!
Comment: What a boring book! Seriously, get a plot! I wouldn't recommend this book to people who like realistic, exciting books. This just made me go to sleep. If you're a preteen girl like me, I wouldn't advise to read this book.

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