Bannertail (Illustrated Edition)

The Story of a Graysquirrel

Bannertail: The Story of a Graysquirrel is a children's novel written and illustrated by Ernest Thompson Seton. It was first published 1922, and adapted into an animated television series in 1979.

A baby squirrel is adopted by a farm cat after his mother is killed, but when he is half-grown the barn in which he is living catches fire and burns to the ground. Bannertail flees into the woods, where he learns to survive and make a new life. He meets his mate and they have a family, but, they don't all live happily ever after, reinforcing the message that you should do what your parents say!

This edition of the book contains all 108 original illustrations, rejuvenated.

Ernest Thompson Seton, born Ernest Evan Thompson in South Shields, County Durham (now part of South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear), England of Scottish parents, Seton's family emigrated to Canada in 1866. Most of his childhood was spent in Toronto. As a youth, he retreated to the woods to draw and study animals as a way of avoiding his abusive father. He won a scholarship in art to the Royal Academy in London, England.

On his twenty-first birthday, Seton's father presented him with a bill for all the expenses connected with his childhood and youth, including the fee charged by the doctor who delivered him. He paid the bill, but never spoke to his father again.

Seton was an early pioneer of the modern school of animal fiction writing, his most popular work being Wild Animals I Have Known (1898).

He died in Seton Village in northern New Mexico at the age of eighty-six. Seton was cremated in Albuquerque. In 1960, in honor of his 100th birthday and the 350th anniversary of Santa Fe, his daughter Dee and his grandson, Seton Cottier (son of Anya), scattered the ashes over Seton Village from an airplane.