It was the title that drew me, too, Una. Isn't it a crackup?
I've been to the Isle of Jersey once and want very much to return. I'd
not realized that the Channel Islands had been occupied until that
visit, and I want so now to go back and learn more. We went to Jersey
because of Gerald Durrell's books, and particularly his _Menageriey
Manor_ about the Jersey Trust Zoo he established there. Even Tony
loved that visit to the zoo, although ordinarily zoos, being mostly
visual, tended to leave him bored. Durrell himself recorded bits about
the various animals, and for a tuppence you could listen to fascinating
bits about various inhabitants of the zoo in Durrell's words, and he
was as funny to hear as he was to read.
Mom fell in love with his books about collecting animals for zoos when
I was in junior high, and I even had the chance to hear him in person
when he came to the U.S. to do a lecture tour and he spoke at the
University of Washington. And he also wrote hilarious fiction
books--to this day one of his lines from _Rosie is my Relative_ is a
catch phrase between my friend Michelle and myself. "Adrian closed his
eyes and prayed for death!" That book sits on the shelf across from
me, alongside his _Mockery Bird._ And his _My Family and Other
Animals_ is a must! It's about when he and his family lived for a time
on the island of Corfu when he was a little boy.
Now as well as Jersey I want to visit Guernsey and perhaps even
Alderney should I ever afford to go back to Europe again.
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large
"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise
cannot see all ends." LOTR
"Don't go where I can't follow."
