Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon

This children's chapter book by Kate DiCamillo follows Francine Poulet, a highly decorated animal control officer who loses her nerve after a frightening encounter with a raccoon and must find her way back to the career that defines her.

Francine comes from a long line of animal control officers. Her father, Clement Poulet, and her grandmother, Nanette Poulet, both held the same job before her. Francine holds 47 trophies and the Gizzford County record for most animals controlled, having captured dogs, cats, snakes, bats, raccoons, and many other creatures. She once won a staring contest with a bear. Clement, now dead, used to tell Francine she was like a refrigerator: solid, certain, and humming. Francine is never afraid.

Late one May afternoon, a woman named Mrs. Bissinger calls the Animal Control Center to report a raccoon living on her roof. She insists this is no ordinary raccoon. It shimmers, glows, and screams her first name like a banshee, a wailing spirit from folklore. Mrs. Bissinger wonders if the raccoon is a ghost. Francine dismisses the idea, agrees to come that night, and is warned to bring a ladder because the roof is very steep and very high.

That evening, Francine arrives at Mrs. Bissinger's house. Mrs. Bissinger warns her that the raccoon is nearly supernatural. Francine sets up her ladder and climbs confidently onto the roof, humming as she goes. She sits quietly in the dark, employing her strategy of waiting for wild animals to approach rather than chasing them. She whispers soothingly and waits. She hears footsteps and reaches for her net. Then a high-pitched scream tears through the darkness. It sounds like the raccoon is screaming "Franny," the secret family nickname only her dead father ever used. A shimmery, raccoon-shaped object flies through the air directly at her. For the first time in her life, Francine is terrified.

She drops her net and runs across the roof, the raccoon at her heels. She scrambles for the ladder. Mrs. Bissinger calls up from below, asking if she has captured the raccoon and remarking that she had heard Francine was no ordinary animal control officer. The comment stops Francine's retreat. She climbs back up and crouches on the roof, but the raccoon charges again with tremendous force, knocking her off balance. She grabs the raccoon, and they roll across the roof together, both screaming, before falling off the edge. Francine hits the ground, and everything goes dark.

Francine wakes in a hospital bed with a cast on her left leg, a cast on her right arm, and a brace on her neck. She smells cigar smoke and sees her dead father standing beside her. Clement tells her the raccoon was just a screamer, not a ghost, and reminds her that Poulets do not panic. Francine cries, missing her father, and falls asleep. When she wakes, Clement is gone. Mrs. Bissinger sits beside her, reading the Gizzford Gazette, whose front page reports on Francine's fall. Mrs. Bissinger points out that despite Francine's decorated career, she failed to capture the raccoon. Francine declares that she quits. She is no longer Animal Control Officer Francine Poulet.

In September, after her casts come off, Francine walks with a limp and a cane into the Animal Control Center and turns in her uniform to Mordus Toopher, the chairman of the board. Mordus delivers a dramatic speech about the end of an era that began with Nanette and continued with Clement. When Francine asks for her trophies, Mordus tells her they must remain as property of the Center. That evening, Francine hides outside Mrs. Bissinger's house, watching the empty roof. There is no raccoon. She reproaches herself for panicking over an ordinary animal. Mrs. Bissinger finds her and tells her the raccoon is gone and she must move on. Francine believes she is neither an animal control officer nor a true Poulet, since Poulets never panic. She cries out to the dark sky, asking who she is. Mrs. Bissinger shouts from a window for her to go home, and Francine obeys.

Francine takes a job as a cashier at Clyde's Bait, Feed, Tackle, and Animal Necessities, where she sits on a stool ringing up dog chow and killing flies, keeping a running tally as a meager measure of progress. One day, two neighborhood children from Deckawoo Drive, a boy named Frank and a girl named Stella, walk into the store. Frank recognizes Francine from the newspaper and tells her he knows where the screaming raccoon is: on the roof of the Lincoln Sisters' house on Deckawoo Drive. Frank notices Francine's hands shaking and identifies her fear. He challenges her by asking what her father would say, noting that the newspaper mentioned Clement was proud of her. Frank urges Francine to come capture the raccoon. After the children leave, Stella returns alone and places a green gumdrop in Francine's hand, telling her it would make Frank happy if she came. Francine eats the gumdrop, rocks her stool slightly, and makes a small sound almost like a hum, the first sign of her returning confidence.

That night, Francine stands in the darkness on Deckawoo Drive, holding her net with trembling hands. Frank stands beside her and hands her binoculars to confirm the shimmering raccoon is on the roof. Frank takes her hand and lays out the plan: He will hold the ladder while she climbs. He reminds her of her 47 trophies and her staring contest with the bear. Francine climbs the ladder, unable to hum. On the roof, she crouches with her head between her knees when the raccoon screams. The commotion draws out the Lincoln Sisters, Baby and Eugenia. Baby waves warmly, while Eugenia calls Francine worthless and possibly a fraud. Their neighbor, Mrs. Watson, also comes outside and recalls that Francine once helped locate their pig, Mercy Watson.

Frank calls Francine "the genuine article," echoing the exact words her father used. Something shifts. Francine listens closely to the raccoon's screaming and realizes it is not saying her name at all. It is just making noise. It is just a screamer. Her hands stop shaking. She stands and shouts her full identity, declaring herself the daughter of Clement Poulet and the granddaughter of Nanette Poulet. She announces that she is the genuine article. Frank points out that the raccoon is standing right beside her. Francine looks at it and bares her teeth. She is not afraid. Slowly, confidently, she lowers her net over the raccoon and captures it. She tells Frank to get the cage ready. Standing on the roof, Francine starts to hum.

In a brief closing section, Mordus Toopher reinstates Francine, calling it a day of reclamation and welcoming her back along with the return of her trophies. Frank introduces himself as Franklin Endicott and declares himself Francine's understudy. Mordus applauds them both, calling it the beginning of an era. Francine and Frank ride together in the animal control truck. Sometimes Frank reminds Francine of the night she forgot who she was on the roof with the screaming raccoon and then remembered. Francine tells Frank he is the genuine article, too: solid, certain, and humming. The Poulet legacy of courage will continue through him.