Googling

If you google "raccoon protagonist" you only get four results.

If you google "squirrel protagonist," you get fifty-six results.

Somehow, right up until the moment I did that search, I never fully realized that raccoons are North Americans--unlike squirrels, who live all over the place, exist in various colours, and have varying powers of flight. (My favourites are the momongas. And the Cape ground squirrels are tough little beasts.)

Admittedly, Wikipedia claims that raccoons have been introduced into new habitats in Europe and Asia, with intermittent success. Apparently, raccoons now live in "42 of 47" Japanese prefectures, and quite a few live in Germany.

Japan does naturally have tanukis, or raccoondogs, though. And red pandas--who look kinda like raccoons with makeup on--live throughout east Asia. So it's kind of dim, but not super-shocking, that I failed to figure out the dearth of raccoons abroad until now.