| Sterling North |
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| 1906 births | |
| north, sterling | |
| 1974 deaths | |
| people from wisconsin | |
| american childrens writers | |
| american novelists | |
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EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY North's sister, Jessica Nelson North was also an Author , as well as a Poet and editor. His other siblings included Herschel, who survived World War I, and Theo, who was the martinet in the family. His maternal grandparents, James Hervey Nelson and Sarah Orelup Nelson, were Wisconsin pioneers. Born in Putnam County, New York , James moved first to near Rochester, New York , then to Menomonee, Wisconsin, now part of Milwaukee, Wisconsin , then homesteaded a farm near present day South Wayne, Wisconsin , which is near Rockford, Illinois . When Sterling North was eleven in 1917 , which would have been the year of his maternal grandfather's 100th birthday, several of his uncles wrote extended biographies about their parents and their pioneer farm life. This writing effort was at the same time as the setting of ''Rascal'' and may have been an early literary inspiration to North. Sterling's mother died when Sterling was only seven years old. North's childhood home in Edgerton, Wisconsin , was restored in the 1990s by the Sterling North Society to its 1917 appearance and transformed into a museum. A bronze sign in front of the home, marking North's significance in the history of this southern Wisconsin community, was dedicated in 1984. A fundraising effort for this sign was led by the then Janesville Gazette journalist and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater student, Mark Scarborough . WRITING CAREER After attending the University Of Chicago (he left without graduating, in 1929), North worked as a reporter (eventually literary editor)for the '' Chicago Daily News '', the '' New York World-Telegram '' and the '' New York Sun '' before becoming a full-time freelance writer. His book ''Midnight and Jeremiah'' was made into the Disney movie ''). In addition, North wrote ''Abe Lincoln'', ''The Wolfing'', ''Racoons are the Brightest People,'' ''Hurry Spring,'' and many other books. In 1957 he became the general editor of Houghton Mifflin 's North Star Books. This firm published biographies of American heroes for young adult readers. Although uncredited, North's beloved bride, Gladys Buchanan North, also contributed to the editing process. ''RASCAL'' North published his most famous work, '' Rascal '', in 1963 . The book is a remembrance of a year in his childhood when he had a pet racoon named Rascal. It received a Newbery Honor in 1964, a Sequoyah Book Award in 1966, and a Young Reader's Choice Award in 1966. It was made into the Disney movie '' Rascal '' in 1969 . Additionally, it was made into a 52-episode Japanese Anime entitled ''Araiguma Rasukaru''. Subtitled "a memoir of a better era," North's book is a prose poem to adolescent angst. ''Rascal'' chronicles young Sterling's loving, troubled relationship with his father, dreamer David Willard North, and the aching loss represented by the death of his mother, Elizabeth Nelson North. The boy reconnects with society through the unlikely intervention of his pet raccoon, a "ringtailed wonder" charmer that dominates almost every page. The author's sister, the straight-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). EXTERNAL LINKS |
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