My Family and Other Animals

"I think every child should read My Family and Other Animals. I only read it for the first time recently and it’s the best book I’ve read in years. It’s a real work of genius and should be on every child’s bedside table. One of the important things about this book, which is different from the other books on my list, is that it’s written by a naturalist. This is a book that opens your eyes and provides you with a vocabulary, to describe and think about the creatures you encounter in the natural world – no matter how old you are. The book is divided into three parts – the three different villas in which Gerald and his eccentric family live at various times in Corfu. Durrell manages to capture a child’s point of view of the adult world perfectly. His observations of his family are similar to his observations of the creatures he collects or observes. When I read it I feel 10 again. And his powers of observation and his prose are extraordinary. It’s not complex language, but it is beautifully expressed. The descriptive prose is shockingly good. The narrative is not held together so much by plot as by humour, which I think is an important ingredient in a children’s book. This book is very funny, with proper laugh out loud moments. There are delightful childish details, like he has these two little dogs called Widdle and Puke, and then there’s the moment with the scorpions…so good. And it’s one of the few books I’ve found that has large sections about beetles in it! “In writing Beetle Boy it was important to me not to let the beetles down. I reached out to an entomologist, Dr Sarah Beynon, and before any of my books come out, she proofreads them.” People talk about narrative voice, I think this book has narrative eyes – or a narrative view. We see the natural world as Gerald Durrell did, as a boy and, of course, he grew up to be a famous naturalist. As an adult writer, he could so easily have browbeaten the reader with all his knowledge, but it’s handled with a light touch. He describes Ulysses, his pet owl, waking up: “He would yawn delicately, shiver violently, so that all his feathers stood out like the petals of a wind-blown chrysanthemum.” I delight in this kind of descriptive prose. Sign up here for our newsletter featuring the best children’s and young adult books, as recommended by authors, teachers, librarians and, of course, kids. There are some dubious moments, when the young Gerald does things that are now illegal – he steals eggs. That particular kind of exploration can’t happen anymore because of the damage it would do, but the subject does raise interesting questions. When the young Gerald goes out on his expeditions to collect and watch creatures – or to explore — he has a freedom and autonomy that children don’t have today. One of the things that unifies all the books on this list is that, while they all may have been written for children, they are all books that can be read and enjoyed by a reader of any age. I understand why, in today’s bookshop market, we categorise books, but sometimes this can stop a book finding a broad range of readers. This book should be read by everyone, children and adults."