Thomas Sterling North was born in a farmhouse on the shores of Lake Koshkonong, a few miles from Edgerton, Wisconsin, in 1906. Surviving a near-paralyzing struggle with polio in his teens, he grew to young adulthood in the quiet southern Wisconsin village of Edgerton, which North transformed into the "Brailsford Junction" setting of several of his books.
One of North's first books, The Pedro Gorino, published in 1929, was a narrative of the life of Harry Dean, an African-American sea captain. A 1934 novel, Plowing on Sunday, featured a rare dust jacket illustration by Iowa artist Grant Wood. In 1949, Midnight and Jeremiah was made into the Disney movie, So Dear to My Heart. (The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Burl Ives's version of the 17th century English song "Lavender Blue"). In addition, North wrote Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House, The Wolfling: A Documentary Novel of the Eighteen-Seventies, Raccoons are the Brightest People, Hurry Spring, and many other books.
One of North's first books, The Pedro Gorino, published in 1929, was a narrative of the life of Harry Dean, an African-American sea captain. A 1934 novel, Plowing on Sunday, featured a rare dust jacket illustration by Iowa artist Grant Wood. In 1949, Midnight and Jeremiah was made into the Disney movie, So Dear to My Heart. (The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for Burl Ives's version of the 17th century English song "Lavender Blue"). In addition, North wrote Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House, The Wolfling: A Documentary Novel of the Eighteen-Seventies, Raccoons are the Brightest People, Hurry Spring, and many other books.
North's best-selling and best-known work, Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era, was published by E. P. Dutton in August 1963. It is a remembrance of a year during his Edgerton childhood when he raised a baby raccoon, which he named "Rascal". The book received a Newbery Honor in 1964, a Sequoyah Book Award in 1966, and a Young Reader's Choice Award in 1966. It too, was made into a Disney movie in 1969. Additionally, it was made into a 52-episode Japanese anime entitled Araiguma Rasukaru. The success of the anime may have been responsible for the introduction of the North American raccoon into Japan.
At the age of 68, Sterling North died in Morristown, New Jersey, on December 21, 1974. To honor his legacy, Edgerton celebrated North’s 100th birthday with a book festival in October of 2006. There have been annual book festivals held in Edgerton ever since.
In the 1990s, North's childhood home at 409 West Rollin Street, Edgerton, Wisconsin, was restored to its 1917 appearance by the Sterling North Society and transformed into a museum. The home is open to visitors during the day of the festival. For more information about Sterling North and his Edgerton childhood home visit www.sterlingnorthsociety.com