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313th out of 1,874 books
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5,013 voters
They Cage the Animals at Night
Burch was left at an orphanage and never stayed at any one foster home long enough to make any friends. This is the story of how he grew up and gained the courage to reach out for love.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
October 1st 1985
by Signet
(first published January 1st 1984)
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3 likes · like · see review
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They Cage the Animals at Night is the inspiring story of a young boy's childhood life. The boys name is Jennings Michael Burch. His mother gets very sick and sends Jennings and his 4 brothers into foster homes and orphanages. Follow Jennings through his childhood as he deals with poverty, sickness, and unfairness. Two of his brothers are drunks, Larry and George. His other brother, Walter, is too busy studying and doing school work, he cannot take care of Jennings. And his final brother, Jerome...more
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I can't, with this book. I literally can't.
The writing isn't perfect, and the character's voice wavers between an innocent, naive 9 year old and someone who is much, much older. It works sometimes, because someone who's been through his experiences will be older beyond his years. It just seemed at times the author was trying to include that "out of the mouth of babes, incredibly insightful" voice. However, I did appreciate that no one was really cast as the "bad guy," because everyone in his fam...more
The writing isn't perfect, and the character's voice wavers between an innocent, naive 9 year old and someone who is much, much older. It works sometimes, because someone who's been through his experiences will be older beyond his years. It just seemed at times the author was trying to include that "out of the mouth of babes, incredibly insightful" voice. However, I did appreciate that no one was really cast as the "bad guy," because everyone in his fam...more
May 14, 2013
Melissa Anderson
added it
They Cage the Animals at Night is a terrific and emotionalstory about Jennings Michael Burch, a young boy who learned to survivein a cold, frightening world. His mother was too sick to care for him and left him in a series of orphanages and institutions. Life in these orphanages was brutal, punishments were cruel, rules were strict, and Jennings was unable to do anything about it. He couldn't rely on family and friends because they all abandoned autolink al519 him in times that he really needed...more
They Cage the Animals at Night by Jennings Michael Burch is a very well written, sad book about Jennings' childhood. Jennings has one younger brother and three older brothers, and lives a hard life in Brooklyn, New York. His dad is an alchoholic and doesn't live with them, so his mom with the help of his oldest brother take care of their family. Jennings' mom has to send him to many orphanages/foster homes because she has a very hard time taking care of five boys. The only problem with his eldes...more
They Cage The Amimals At Night. Genre: Memoir By: Jennings Michael Burch
This book is a tragic book about a boy, named Jennings Michael Burch. He is in and out of orphanages, foster homes,, and institutions over a four year period. It is based in mostly Brooklyn, New York. While he is in and out of orphanages, his mother is in and out of hospitals. She is dealing with physical and mental illness. He feels left out and alone. He has to deal with the physical abuse of the hands of strangers. But...more
This book is a tragic book about a boy, named Jennings Michael Burch. He is in and out of orphanages, foster homes,, and institutions over a four year period. It is based in mostly Brooklyn, New York. While he is in and out of orphanages, his mother is in and out of hospitals. She is dealing with physical and mental illness. He feels left out and alone. He has to deal with the physical abuse of the hands of strangers. But...more
1 like · like · see review
It's a true story thats really shocking,The book “ They Cage The Animal At Night” is a very sad and depressing book(I cried). It talks about a little boy named Jennings Michael Burch. He is a little boy who was left by his mother at an orphanage. He is 8 years old, curly red hair, white with freckles. Also while he was their at the orphanage he was being teased and laughed at by all the other boys in their. It took place mostly in a small room in the orphanage, very plain gloomy feeling , crampe...more
3 likes · like · see review
Caging More Than Just Animals
Interestingly enough, we got to read this in middle school. We also got to keep the books that were assigned to us. I still remember certain scenes where Jennings, the narrator, and the author of this autobiographical novel either received amazing amounts of love or terrible amounts of abuse.
Set in the 1950s, in New York City and its environs, we get the unforgettable account of a few years of Jennings's childhood. With his mother too tired, sick, and beaten down to...more
Interestingly enough, we got to read this in middle school. We also got to keep the books that were assigned to us. I still remember certain scenes where Jennings, the narrator, and the author of this autobiographical novel either received amazing amounts of love or terrible amounts of abuse.
Set in the 1950s, in New York City and its environs, we get the unforgettable account of a few years of Jennings's childhood. With his mother too tired, sick, and beaten down to...more
They Cage the Animals at Night, written by Jennings Michael Burch, is one of the many abuse-related books that I have read, and this one, like the Dave Pelzer series, is one of my favorites. The first time I read this book, I was still a tween, and rereading the book now, five years later, I understand it more deeply. By understanding the main points of the book, I paid more attention to other aspects of this heart-throbbing book. For example, I explored the emotions that the protagonist, little...more
Have you ever felt like people just didnt want you?Or yu were treated bad for something you didnt even understand what was happen?Or felt like no onw really loved you.?Well this book is right for you.So this is how it started.With a teddy bear named Doggie and a little boy named Jennings.
This book is about a boy named jennings who's been through alot.He's been beaten and neglected .He's been to many foster homes.Jennings has five brothers .Jennings feelings get hurt alot & he is a very sweet...more
This book is about a boy named jennings who's been through alot.He's been beaten and neglected .He's been to many foster homes.Jennings has five brothers .Jennings feelings get hurt alot & he is a very sweet...more
They cage the animals at night is a memoir about a boy named Jennings Michael Burch who was a depressed orphan who lived a very disappointing and rough life in Brooklyn. His mom would be very sick, ill and would send Jennings and his 4 brothers into unwelcoming foster homes, orphanages, and institutions. The only thing Jennings had was his stuffed dog that sister Ann let him keep from one of the orphanages. In one experience Jennings was sent to a home with the Carpenters. While eating breakfas...more
They Cage the Animals at Night
, was a very sad memoir, about a boy name Jennings, who gets sent to all of these different orphanages and different foster homes in Brooklyn, New York. He first got sent to one orphanage, without his mom telling him, and while he is there, he goes to a foster home, which only gets him because of the money. He makes a lot of friends, when some of them die, and some of the abandon him. But he make two really good friends, a person named Sal, who is a bus driver, and...more
“They Cage The Animals At Night” By Jennings Burch
“They Cage The Animals At Night” by Jennings Burch is amazing inspiring memoir. It’s about a boy named Jennings who has to go to many orphanages and foster homes. They are all in different towns and cities. He goes to his first to orphanage not knowing that his mom wasn’t coming back for a long time. He then meets friends, and then he has to say good bye to them when they have to leave. All he wants is to go back home, and even though he knows t...more
“They Cage The Animals At Night” by Jennings Burch is amazing inspiring memoir. It’s about a boy named Jennings who has to go to many orphanages and foster homes. They are all in different towns and cities. He goes to his first to orphanage not knowing that his mom wasn’t coming back for a long time. He then meets friends, and then he has to say good bye to them when they have to leave. All he wants is to go back home, and even though he knows t...more
I wish I could tell you why They Cage The Animals At Night popped into my head tonight, of all nights. I read this book probably 20 years ago, when I was a small child myself. I feel that I need to read this book again to perhaps gain more insight than I did as a child. But from what I do remember of the book, it's this:
Jennings was bounced in and out of orphanages & homes
At one orphanage, they had stuffed animals, but they were taken away (caged) each night
Doggie was his companion who wa...more
Jennings was bounced in and out of orphanages & homes
At one orphanage, they had stuffed animals, but they were taken away (caged) each night
Doggie was his companion who wa...more
This book is non-fiction because this book is like a true story about the author. The book is about this little boy named Jennings and like he goes to a foster home because his mother got sick and she took him to a foster home. Once he had got there this teacher didn't like jennings so when Jennings asked her something like not a nice question in her way she would slap him across the face and then he went to the playroom. Now the characters are Jennings, Mom, Mark, Walter, George and Larry plus...more
This book made me so angry when I was reading it. How people could even think about harming a child in the way they did to Jennings, is appalling. I finished this book the other day for the second time, and I have to say it about brought tears to my eyes again. This book really makes me appreciate everything I have, especially love. In my family, my parents have always stressed that love is crucial. Family is everything, and friendships are important. Jennings didn't have those things growing up...more
This book was actually a requirement for a class I took in high school. I have to admit, in high school I wasn't much of a reader. Actually, I DESPISED having to pick up a book to read. However, this book really sparked a whole new love in books for me. It's the story of a boy who has a terrible childhood, to be put simply. This book will have you crying at least once toward the end. I never cried while reading a book before this but the story is just all to real to not truly feel for the little...more
1/11/13
How I choose this book was that my teacher had given my class a book list. So I looked through it and ran across a book that i had remembered my brother talking about.
The reason i choose this book was because my older brother read it for an assignment and he said that he enjoyed it. Also when he had it i read the first few pages and i was hooked instantly but had forgotten about it since he returned it.
1/18/13
This part makes me think about how many other little kids are out there and w...more
How I choose this book was that my teacher had given my class a book list. So I looked through it and ran across a book that i had remembered my brother talking about.
The reason i choose this book was because my older brother read it for an assignment and he said that he enjoyed it. Also when he had it i read the first few pages and i was hooked instantly but had forgotten about it since he returned it.
1/18/13
This part makes me think about how many other little kids are out there and w...more
Heartbreaking, sweet, endearing, and occasionally a little overdone. This book is a painful and real trip through the foster care system in the 1940-1950's. The "characters" (I use quotations as they are real individuals) are engaging and will cause you to grow attached. One issue that continues to bother me is the very poor editing done in the novel. I teach this to my 8th grade students, and it's often quite distracting to avoid incorrect punctuation or try to figure out what the actual world...more
This is a first-person account of a person who was in child care institutions and a few foster homes repeatedly during the 1950s, returning home to mom and brothers for a period of time, then having to return to care because of mom's illness or injury.
This book says a lot about what this process was like 50 years ago. Reading it, I got the sense that we have come a long way, although there is still much work to be done to improve the foster care system.
What I loved about the book is the consiste...more
This book says a lot about what this process was like 50 years ago. Reading it, I got the sense that we have come a long way, although there is still much work to be done to improve the foster care system.
What I loved about the book is the consiste...more
This book "They Cage the Animals at Night" by Jennings Michael Burch was incredibly good! By the time I was halfway through the book, I didn't want to put it down. The book is a true story about a child that suddenly finds himself in and out of orphanages, institutions, and fosters homes over the time of four years. His mother was in and out of hospitals battling a physical and mental illness. He has to deal with abandonment and being abused multiple times of by many of the people caring for him...more
I found this very different from "A Child Called It" which included cruel, violent and horrific abuse at the whim of an unstable parent. Jennings' story is more sad than anything. There is some physical abuse though mostly from nuns and caretakers at the children's homes. Jennings' mother loved him and his brothers. His mother tried unsuccessfully to keep her family together but she kept falling apart. Jennings makes and then loses connections with people repeatedly which leaves you feeling disa...more
I've read this book when I was around 12 and I just loved the story and the happy ending for Jennings. Now I'm 15 and I've read it over and over and this book is just one of my favorite books ever written. I don't know why when every other biography I've read I've hated so much, but the story of Jennings actually growing up out of the orphanage part time just makes me shiver. To me no one knows about this book (but that just may be about my age group of 15 year-olds) but its just a diamond in th...more
Absolutely devastating and heart-wrenching, but at the same time one of the most incredible books I've ever read. Not incredible in terms of story, of plot, or of writing, but incredible in that an American child could experience such disturbing horrors, and still be able to surpass them enough to live a successful adult life, and to write about them for the world to read. Definitely recommended for those looking to adopt or foster a child (as an idea of what they might (unfortunately) have suff...more
I personally liked this book a lot and would recommend it to someone in a heartbeat. The touching story of the tender little boy Jennings truly makes me want to cry. I'm a sucker for sappy sad stories. What made this book even more tear jerking was the fact that everything in the book actually happened in real life. This book really touched my heart and made me feel like I really know the characters one on one. This little boy had to "grow up" and take care of himself before most children want...more
Though i did not have high hopes for this book going into reading it, it exceeded my expectations! The things he had to endure were so real and intense that you almost were forced to feel bad for him. At the same time it would take a heartless human being not to feel bad for him so it was not really forced upon you.
This book was really powerful and even more so because it was a true story. Most time we think of the things happening in books as something so far fetched that it could never happen...more
This book was really powerful and even more so because it was a true story. Most time we think of the things happening in books as something so far fetched that it could never happen...more
This book is required reading for Mallory's 7th grade language arts class, so I thought I would read it to see what it was all about. Heartwrenching and heartbreaking autobiography about a horrific childhood in and out of "homes"/orphanages run by abusive nuns, yet somehow this little kid survives with the help of his one friend, a stuffed animal named doggie, and some very good people who come into and out of his life. Not sure it is appropriate for 12 year olds, but definitely thought provokin...more
Plot Summary:
They Cage the Animals at Night is an amazing story of a boy named Jennings that has a suddenly strange experience of going in and out of homes. He starts in the Home of The Angles, the rules are strict, and he has no idea why his mother has left him there and although she says she'll "Be right back" she didn't until weeks later. Then after she came for him and he was taken home, he got held back in school, and he almost missed The Home of the Angles, and his friend Mark. Then after...more
They Cage the Animals at Night is an amazing story of a boy named Jennings that has a suddenly strange experience of going in and out of homes. He starts in the Home of The Angles, the rules are strict, and he has no idea why his mother has left him there and although she says she'll "Be right back" she didn't until weeks later. Then after she came for him and he was taken home, he got held back in school, and he almost missed The Home of the Angles, and his friend Mark. Then after...more
This was originally a required reading book for one of my high school English classes. Not only did I finish it long before my classmates, but I actually went out and purchased the book to add to my own collection. It is still one of my favorite books, I could not put it down back then and I still reread it once in a while.
The writing is amazing, you feel for Jennings and what he endured from childhood to his early teen years. Adult Jennings paints such a detailed picture it is easy to feel like...more
The writing is amazing, you feel for Jennings and what he endured from childhood to his early teen years. Adult Jennings paints such a detailed picture it is easy to feel like...more
Awwwww I cried soooooooo many times and read soooo far ahead of my class. I really loved this book and I think everyone should read it. I personally wouldnt have picked up the book myself but I fell in love after the first few pages. The one part that always put a smile on my face was when they mentioned Doggie. I loved Doggie. I know it sounds weird, but read the books and youll fall in love with a little boy who had to face the world alone with some pretty bad examples to follow and a lot of b...more
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“Sister, why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Cage the animals at night?"
"Well..." She looked up and out through the barred window before answering me."We don't want to, Jennings, but we have to. You see, the animals that are given to us we have to take care of. If we didn't cage them up in one place, we might lose them, they might get hurt or damaged. It's not the best thing, but it's the only way we have to take care of them."
"But if somebody loved one them," I asked, "wouldn't it be a good idea to let them have one? To keep, I mean?"
"Yes, it would be. But not everyone would love them and take care of them as you would. I wish I could give them all away tomorrow." She looked at me. There were tears in her eyes. "But I can't. My heart would break if I saw just one of those animals lying by the wayside uncared for, unloved. No, Jennings. It's better if we keep them together.”
—
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More quotes…
"Do what?"
"Cage the animals at night?"
"Well..." She looked up and out through the barred window before answering me."We don't want to, Jennings, but we have to. You see, the animals that are given to us we have to take care of. If we didn't cage them up in one place, we might lose them, they might get hurt or damaged. It's not the best thing, but it's the only way we have to take care of them."
"But if somebody loved one them," I asked, "wouldn't it be a good idea to let them have one? To keep, I mean?"
"Yes, it would be. But not everyone would love them and take care of them as you would. I wish I could give them all away tomorrow." She looked at me. There were tears in her eyes. "But I can't. My heart would break if I saw just one of those animals lying by the wayside uncared for, unloved. No, Jennings. It's better if we keep them together.”
