Thomas Sterling North was the author of children's books including the famous Rascal. He was born in Edgerton, WI in 1906 and died in 1974 in Morristown, New Jersey.

After graduating from the University of Chicago he worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News, the New York World-Telegram and the Sun before becoming a full time freelance writer.

He wrote Rascal in 1963. It received a Newbery Honor in 1964 and was made into a Disney movie in 1969. Additionally, it was made into a 52 episode Japanese anime entitled Araiguma Rasukaru.

He also wrote Midnight and Jeremiah, made into a Disney movie So Dear to My Heart in 1949 (Academy Award nomination for best song "Lavender Blue", sung by Burl Ives). In addition, he wrote Abe Lincoln, The Wolfing, Racoons are the Brightest People, and many other books.

Sterling's 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 was eleven in 1917, which would have been his grandfather James Hervey Nelson's 100th birthday, several of Sterling's 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 Sterling.

His childhood home in Edgerton, WI has been restored to its 1917 setting and made into a museum. See the link below.

External links:

The Sterling North Society Website