North respects both the complexity of his fellow imperfect humans and the marvelous qualities of animals.
More than the quality of writing, I believe Rascal excels in demonstrating respect for God’s creation.
Those observations gradually build to beliefs and morals as the book continues. Thanks to his youth, Sterling mostly observes. The generosity of townspeople counters the greed and anger of neighbors. The warmth and freedom of summer softens the fears of war. Young Sterling stumbles into these grandiose events between fishing trips and parades, and so do readers. Lastly, the meat and fur industry clash sharply with Sterling’s growing love for his pet raccoon.ĭespite heavy subject matter, North gently exposes his readers to the topics. Add to that the global Spanish Influenza, and readers see an eerie foreshadowing of this year’s COVID-19. Sterling’s older brother fights in World War I, and the whole town responds to a war-driven economy. His family’s interest in biology lends them to more progressive views of God creating the Earth. Because the author’s mother died when he was seven, Sterling debates the question of good and evil at an early age. To predominately follow the growth and and exploits of a pet raccoon, Rascal covers some heavy-hitting subjects. I must give the author credit for believing in the imagination and understanding of children. Take out the occasional illustrations, and Rascal could have matched the style of any of the grown-up memoirs on my shelf. In fact, the only reason I saw this book getting published under “children’s literature” instead of the adult-geared “memoir” came from its narrator being only 11 years old. As Madeleine L’Engle explains, I must have read around an awful lot that I didn’t get as a kid. Regardless of the fact I read the book as fiction when I was a child, the hefty vocabulary and proper writing style left me amazed I understood anything that happened in the book back then. Or, perhaps I’m reading too much of my college education into my nine-year-old self. I would have better understood the meandering plot line and thick descriptions. I almost wish I had known the story was real when I read it the first time. In fact, only a note from the author on the copyright page indicates that the events in the book actually happened. First and foremost, my Scholastic copy of Rascal did not include the words “memoir” or “nonfiction” anywhere on the cover.
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