374I: Vintage children’s book about two raccoon brothers

The book was published sometime in the 1960s to 1970s. It had full-color illustrations and multiple stories presented like chapters about two raccoon brothers. The book was probably written for children between 4-7 years of age, or early readers. The only two chapters I remember were about not chewing with your mouth open and having a hard time falling asleep. In the first story, the older brother is annoyed by his younger brother chewing with his mouth open, making a noisy mess. The younger raccoon tries to chew with his mouth closed but has a hard time, even going so far as to tearfully pull his cheeks out so he doesn’t bite them. Eventually, the older brother relents and the younger brother happily resumes his messy, noisy eating. In the second story, the younger raccoon is struggling to fall asleep in his top bunk. The older brother, in the bed below, advises his brother to say goodnight to his body, part by part, starting with his toes. But by the time the young raccoon gets to his (knees, hips, stomach? can’t remember), his toes have “woken up” and he is sad. I don’t remember much more about this book other than I loved it very much as a young child in the 80s, and it was a gift from my beloved grandmother.

4 thoughts on “374I: Vintage children’s book about two raccoon brothers

  1. Kristina Larson

    Were the raccoon twins named Albert and Alberta (Arabella) or something like that? I recall a story in an issue of “Cricket” magazine in which the parents had trouble telling the twins apart, until one of them lost a tooth. Then at the end of the story, the other one lost the tooth in the exact same spot, and they were indistinguishable once again!
    That doesn’t sound like your particular story, but the characters sound very much alike, and I do remember the illustrations were by Lillian Hoban. 🙂

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