Sterling North
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Thomas Sterling North was the author of children's books including the famous Rascal. He was born in Edgerton, Wisconsin in 1906 and died in 1974 in Morristown, New Jersey.
| Contents |
Early life and family
North's sister, Jessica Nelson North was also an author as well as a poet and editor. His 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 his grandfather James Hervey Nelson'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.
North's childhood home in Edgerton, Wisconsin has been restored to its 1917 setting and made into a museum.
Writing career
After graduating from the University of Chicago, North worked as a reporter 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 So Dear to My Heart in 1949. (The movie garnered an Academy Award nomination for best song: "Lavender Blue", sung by Burl Ives). In addition, North wrote Abe Lincoln, The Wolfing, Racoons are the Brightest People and many other books.
In 1957 he became the general editor of Houghton Mifflin's North Star Books.
Rascal
North wrote 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 as well as a Young Reader's Choice Award. It was made into the Disney movie Rascal in 1969. Additionally, it was made into a 52-episode Japanese anime entitled Araiguma Rasukaru. His sister, Jessica Nelson North, was a major character in the book.
External links
The Sterling North Society Website (http://www.sterlingnorth.com/)
Categories: 1906 births | 1974 deaths | People from Wisconsin | Children's writers | American novelists | Wisconsin writers
