Little Rascal

A Newbery Honor Book Celebrating 50 years of a beloved classic! Nothing's surprising in the North household, not even Sterling's new pet raccoon. Rascal is only a baby when Sterling brings him home, but soon the two are best friends, doing everything together--until the spring day when everything suddenly changes. Rascal is a heartwarming boyhood memoir that continues to find its way into the hearts of readers fifty years later. This special anniversary edition includes the book's classic illustrations restored to their original splendor, as well as a letter from the author's daughter, and material from the illustrator's personal collection. "Everyone should knock off work, sit beneath the nearest tree, and enjoy Rascal from cover to cover."—Chicago Tribune

Chronicles more than seventy years of the "Our Gang" series using revealing photographs to commemorate such cultural mainstays as Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Buckwheat, Porky, Butch, Farina, and Petey the Dog.

Based on true events, “Rascal the Baby Squirrel” is a story about an abandoned new born baby squirrel that is found by a man. His compassion for the tiny animal is so great that he takes it home to his family where they adopt it as their family pet. In time, Rascal reaches adulthood and no longer wants to be contained. It becomes clear that the little squirrel wants to be free, and the decision is made to release it back into the wild. This warm children’s story reveals a family’s compassion, their extraordinary commitment to save this animal, and the courage to set their beloved pet free. See why Rascal the Baby Squirrel should find a home in your child’s library!

Memoir of Laura June Kenny as she provides this unique look at Hollywood during the Depression when she played in the Little Rascals show.

It was the age of Jim Crow, riddled with racial violence and unrest. But in the world of Our Gang, black and white children happily played and made mischief together. They even had their own black and white version of the KKK, the Cluck Cluck Klams—and the public loved it. The story of race and Our Gang, or The Little Rascals, is rife with the contradictions and aspirations of the sharply conflicted, changing American society that was its theater. Exposing these connections for the first time, Julia Lee shows us how much this series, from the first silent shorts in 1922 to its television revival in the 1950s, reveals about black and white American culture—on either side of the silver screen. Behind the scenes, we find unconventional men like Hal Roach and his gag writers, whose Rascals tapped into powerful American myths about race and childhood. We meet the four black stars of the series—Ernie “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison, Allen “Farina” Hoskins, Matthew “Stymie” Beard, and Billie “Buckwheat” Thomas—the gang within the Gang, whose personal histories Lee pursues through the passing years and shifting political landscape. In their checkered lives, and in the tumultuous life of the series, we discover an unexplored story of America, the messy, multiracial nation that found in Our Gang a comic avatar, a slapstick version of democracy itself.