A time when kids were routinely left alone and had to feed themselves. It speaks of a time where kids had to entertain themselves and played in the woods all day long. Like Adam of the Road, this book has much historical value. He paddles the raccoon far away and watches him as he meets a female and leaves. When Rascal is around a year old, the boy makes a decision to release him back to the wild, so he won’t be shot by the neighbors. As Rascal grows, however, he gets in trouble with the neighbors for eating their crops. He is building a canoe in the living room (hard to imagine these days kids getting away with that) and basically takes care of himself. The family goes on vacation for two weeks and Sterling and the boy spend the entire time playing in the woods while his father works. Rascal sleeps with Sterling and helps Sterling fish. He takes Rascal everywhere with him, and they have many adventures. Sterling is alone most of the time and Rascal and the other pets on the farm serve as his companions. The book takes place in 1918, near the end of World War I. The boy’s mother has died, leaving just the boy and his father, who is a lawyer and is gone all the time.

He keeps this baby, Rascal, and raises it. Sterling is out with his friend in the woods when he scares a raccoon family and one baby is left behind. A 1964 Newbery Honor Book, this book is based off the author’s real life year with a raccoon. This is just one of several brands, including other types designed for raised beds.Rascal by Sterling North is a delightful tale about an 11 year old boy who raises a baby raccoon. There are other types designed for raised beds. McGregor’s Fence® and it is designed to keep out rabbits, woodchucks, raccoons, possums, skunks, squirrels, and other small animal pests. Several kinds are available for vegetable gardens. The best defense against all small animal pests is an electric fence. They also do serious damage to many vegetable gardens, though I did manage to grow vegetables myself despite the depredations of a family of raccoons. Shallower ponds make perfect swimming and fishing holes for them. If one builds a pond with the sides going straight down 2 feet around the edges, racoons won’t be a nuisance.

Raccoons especially can trash a garden pond and eat all one’s valuable koi. Is there any way to control raccoons and keep them out of a vegetable garden?ĭogs and cats can control many animal pest problems, including rats, ground squirrels, and opossums, but raccoons and skunks are more difficult to control. They eat a wide range of vegetables, pull up drip lines, and even trash local fish ponds. My dog seems to have shooed off the ground squirrels but can’t control raccoons which are not afraid of anything. I live in Palos Verdes where I haunt our local farmers’ market and wish I could grow my own organic crops.

Rascal book raccoon