I would have read this book in the 70s. I’m not sure if it was YA, but probably. A young girl is lost in the prairie and is taken in and cared for by badgers. This is realistically depicted, these are not cartoon badgers. I think she lives there for some time and becomes like a ‘wild girl/wolf girl’, in that vein.
Lost Classics of Teen Lit: Name That Book! 
Solved! I just found the name of this book! Incident at Hawk’s Hill, by Allen Eckert. Turns out it was a little boy, not girl. I changed it to suit me. Thanks for this site, even though I found it myself. I find myself reading the memory snippets for fun.
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