"Once upon a time, long, long ago, where the forest runs down to the ocean, a hunter lived all alone in a house made of logs he had chopped for himself and shingles he had split for himself." These words ease the reader into the elegant, dreamlike world of Randall Jarrell's Newbery Honor book The Animal Family. One night, the lonely hunter hears the singing of a mermaid, and because "he himself was as patient as an animal," the mermaid learns to trust him, speaking to him in a voice like the water. In time they teach each other their languages, with many amusing exchanges occurring as the hunter tries to teach his new friend terrestrial words and concepts. The hunter explains, "The house is a big wooden thing ... that you stay inside at night or when it rains." "Why?" she asks. "To keep from getting wet." "To keep from getting wet?" the mermaid says despairingly.

The mermaid and the hunter become a family when the hunter takes a bear cub from its mother to live with them as a son. "The bear's table manners were bad. But so were the mermaid's--especially as she couldn't resist throwing the bear pieces of fish." Having a bear around seems perfectly normal, but not quite a complete family, so eventually the hunter captures a spotted baby lynx. When the lynx brings home not another dead partridge, but a little boy, the delicate, playful family dynamics change again. This book of low-key epiphanies is packed with delightful, illuminating, often unexpected comparisons of the ocean world and the land world most non-mermaids wouldn't have considered. Enhanced by a beautiful design and gorgeous illustrations by Maurice Sendak, this book is perfect for any reader--young or old--ready for a bit of gentle philosophy with a decided twinkle. (All ages) --Karin Snelson

From Publishers Weekly
A reprint of the classic 1965 Newbery Honor Book. Ages 6-up. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The New York Times Book Review, P.L. Travers
Occasionally, very rarely--like the spirit of delight--comes a book that is not so much a book as a kind of visitation. I had not known that I was waiting for The Animal Family, but when it came it was as though I had long been expecting it.

SLJ.
"This tale of a lonely hunter and how he acquires a family is the - stuff' from which a lifetime of dreams and epiphanies is made."

H.
"Like many of the great books of fantasy, The Animal Family is written by a poet. In singing words, he captures the essence of family."

P.L. Travers, NYT.
"Occasionally, very rarely--like the spirit of delight--comes a book that is not so much a book as a kind of visitation. I had not known that I was waiting for The Animal Family, but when it came it was as though I had long been expecting it."


"Like many of the great books of fantasy... written by a poet. In singing words, he captures the essence of family."

Book Description
This is the story of how, one by one, a man found himself a family. Almost nowhere in fiction is there a stranger, dearer, or funnier family -- and the life that the members of The Animal Familylive together, there in the wilderness beside the sea, is as extraordinary and as enchanting as the family itself.

Card catalog description
A lonely hunter living in the wilderness beside the sea gains a family made up of a mermaid, a bear, a lynx, and a boy.

About the Author
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) received the National Book Award for his book of poems The Woman at the Washington Zoo.His children's book The Animal Family was named a Newbery Honor Book, and his translation of The Three Sisters was produced by The Actors Studio Theatre.

ANNOTATION

A lonely hunter living in the wilderness beside the sea gains a family made up of a mermaid, a bear, a lynx, and a boy.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This is the story of how, one by one, a man found himself a family. Almost nowhere in fiction is there a stranger, dearer, or funnier family—and the life that the members of The Animal Familylive together, there in the wilderness beside the sea, is as extraordinary and as enchanting as the family itself.

1966 Newbery Honor BookBest Illustrated Children's Book 1965 Year's Best Juvenile 1965 (NYT)

Author Biography: Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) received the National Book Award for his book of poems The Woman at the Washington Zoo. His children's book The Animal Family was named a Newbery Honor Book, and his translation of The Three Sisters was produced by The Actors Studio Theatre.

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Times Book Review

Unmistakably the best in many a year, a timeless and universal story. .

Publishers Weekly