The Tarantula in My Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets: True-Life Stories to Read Aloud – A Newbery Winner's Hilarious Adventures with Amazing Wildlife for Kids

by Jean Craighead George, Richard Cowdrey (Illustrator)

From bestselling nature writer and Newbery Medal winner Jean Craighead George comes an autobiographical story about how wild it can be living in a house full of animal fans. Imagine living with a skunk in your closet, a bat in your refrigerator, and a tarantula in your purse! In this hilarious autobiographical account, Newbery Medal–winning author and acclaimed naturalist Jean Craighead George describes her adventures in a house full of wildlife enthusiasts—and the amazing animals themselves.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Memoir, Nature, Biography, Childrens, Middle Grade

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Jean Craighead George wrote over eighty popular books for young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves and the Newbery Honor book My Side of the Mountain. Most of her books deal with topics related to the environment and the natural world. While she mostly wrote children's fiction, she also wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods, and an autobiography, Journey Inward.

The mother of three children, (Twig C. George, Craig, and T. Luke George) Jean George was a grandmother who joyfully read to her grandchildren since the time they were born. Over the years Jean George kept one hundred and seventy-three pets, not including dogs and cats, in her home in Chappaqua, New York. "Most of these wild animals depart in autumn when the sun changes their behaviour and they feel the urge to migrate or go off alone. While they are with us, however, they become characters in my books, articles, and stories."

Reviews

[Lora · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tarantula in My Purse is one of my favorite memoirs because it isn't your ordinary book. It is about the author's (Jean Craighead George) experience with a bunch of wild, exotic pets throughout her life. It had the perfect amounts of humor when the pets did something crazy, sadness when they had to let them go, and sweetness about how the animals become a part of their family. My favorite part was when their crow learns to slide down the slide in their backyard just like the kids! I love animals so this book was great. I would recommend this book to people who like animals or the outdoors and if you maybe aren't big on biographies or memoirs, I think you would still like this book.

[Sara Moran · Rating 5 out of 5]

9year old review: 5 stars

7 year old review: 8 stars

Mom review: I read this book aloud with my 9 and 7 year old as part of our homeschool curriculum, and it was such a pleasant surprise to discover that it is a memoir written by the author of one of our favorite books, My Side of the Mountain. We loved this story from the very first page. We laughed out loud at some parts and felt emotional at others. As a parent trying to raise children who appreciate nature and the wildlife around them, this book was incredibly inspiring. I loved reading about this family and all of their wild animal adventures. I will never be as cool a mom as Jean Craighead George.

[Book2Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jean Craighead George tells how she was raised, loving animals and being taught to rescue them. Her childhood home was filled with rescued animals, and then she tells the stories of all the various and sundry animals she and her children brought home to rescue. The variety is quite impressive, sometimes tender and sometimes amazing. The stories are pretty humorous too. Just imagine that home! Regardless it seemed filled mostly with love, which is rarely a bad thing.
There are only four stars because it hurt me to see her children be allowed to bond with the animals they brought home, only to have them torn from them later on, sometimes even years later. However, it seems all turned out to have good and productive lives; perhaps that is the problem when we look at animals as pets, or anthropomorphize them. Love found and lost is certainly something we will encounter in life as we grow.
I would always recommend her books though, and this is no exception.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found out last night that one of my co-workers is Jean Craighead George's granddaughter. She told me one of the stories "Crowbar" and I checked out the book. Thinking about doing this for my parent-child book club and having my co-worker as a guest.

Humorous stories about Jean Craighead George's and her children's unusual pets. Jean's first story is about her pet vulture. The last story is her telling her grandchildren about her favorite pet - "Frog Prince."

[Nelleke Plouffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this aloud to my 14, 12, 10 and 7yo boys, and all of them loved it. I normally aim my read-aloud reading level at my oldest, but aiming at the youngest was fun and I’m sure I’ll do it again sometime.

[Havebooks Willread · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fun read-aloud with my younger children about loving nature and the creatures God made. They begged for another chapter each time I picked it up.

[Grace Steele]

A truly delightful read aloud with the kids. We laughed, we sighed, we want our own little zoo. Incredibly sensitive writing about both people and animals. Exactly the kind of love I'm happy to share with my children.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

We read this as part of our curriculum. My kids thought it was hilarious. It fostered a lot of conversation about keeping wild animals as pets.

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars & 5/10 hearts. This is one of the funniest nonfiction/memoirs that I have ever read. I loved meeting all the animals and hearing all of their crazy stories. The Georges were all so hilarious (Luke and Craig in particular) and Ms. George’s writing style is just so humorous. It was also really clean—two mentions of divorce, one euphemism, and one disgusting happening involving mice. My favourite creature is perhaps Crowbar…. XD This is a great family read aloud or just a fun read for all ages! 

A Favourite Humorous Quote: “Presently we had a goose that thought she was a person, and a duck that thought he was a goose….
“One night … Goose and Duck awoke when the moonlight streamed in upon them, and they got up. Goose stepped out of the house to find her mother. I was nowhere to be found, and so she started down College Avenue, calling. Duck was right behind her, quaking. 
“A policeman happened to come by on his midnight rounds. He saw the pair, pulled over to the curb, and opened his door to make sure he was sane. Goose, upon seeing what appeared to be her mother, flew into the car and sat down in the power seat. Duck flew after his mother and sat down beside her.”

[Jenna Pritts · Rating 5 out of 5]

My children and I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just for the record:

I love animals. All animals. I love all the animals in George's book.

Except.

If anyone ever thought to put a tarantula in my purse, or anywhere within 20 miles of me, I would set the one-minute mile running away.

Then.

That person should live in dread of the day I finally think of a suitable revenge for such a heinous act.

[Georgann · Rating 3 out of 5]

With this title, I expected this to be more humorous. I did laugh at the White Mouse Experiment. They were nice stories, but I couldn't imagine letting all those birds and animals being free in my house to relieve themselves all over the place. Yuck.

[Elena Melling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny stories!
Heads up for younger readers, at some point she mentions her separation from her husband in the context of one of the animal stories. I can’t remember which.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think all three listeners enjoyed this book. So that’s something! I will probably consider reading the other similar books she wrote.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a fun book for children!

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up reading Julie of the Wolves and My Side of the Mountain. I have always loved books by Jean Craighead George. This book is a delightful memoir about her experience living with and adopting wild animals. She's had 172 animals including owls, ducks, crows, turkey vultures etc. The stories of her life with these animals are hilarious.

This is an excellent book to read aloud. I am currently reading it with my third and fifth graders and they look forward to the end of the day where they can hear a chapter from this book. What a great read!

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short read book with short, funny stories. It's about wild animals that the aurthor has taken in and turn in to silly members into the family. You are sure to have a laugh with this book!

[Isabel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is sooo stupid and im only on page 18!! i have to read this for school,OF COURES!!!!! u always have to read stupid books for school

[Ashley Stangl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rating's at least partly for nostalgia. I LOVED this book as a kid and I read it SO MANY times. As an adult, it still holds up. George tells real-life stories about the wild animals she and her children kept as pets with wonderful clarity and wit and with a refreshingly sensible view of nature--animals are amazing and wonderful and have so much to teach us, but they're still just animals and shouldn't be treated like humans. An adult perspective makes some of these stories a bit more worrisome than they were to younger me (was no one worried about RABIES?), and the habit of veering off from a story of one animal to a story of a different animal decades earlier kind of interrupts the flow of the book at times. But I loved revisiting all the stories of their interesting pets (the crow stories are especially funny and interesting and at times uncanny in how human these birds are), and it's a funny, charming, well-written book that provides a greater appreciation for the natural world.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was at the thrift store and found this book for 50 cents. I could not resist the title, although I would never want to have a tarantula in my purse. The George family had an interesting approach to dealing with wildlife -- sort of a foster system or foreign exchange student system rather than adoption. Animals in need came to live with them and then left on their own terms. Crows returned to being crows after living in the family and being mischievous around the house for years. Toads spent the summer keeping the house free of insects and then moved back to their ponds. And crayfish turn out to be the deadliest of all the pets that come into the home. A collection of interesting stories but not a life I would have been comfortable living, although it is not surprising that all 3 of her children became professionals dealing with animals of some sort.

[Danni Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised to find that a Jean Craighead George book existed that I had never read! I was a huge fan of her work when I was a child; so much so, in fact, that my 4th grade teacher arranged for me to meet her in person. It was one of the most exciting things that ever happened to me; she was incredibly generous to come and sit with me for an afternoon, answer all my questions, and encourage me to pursue my dream of being a children's book author just like her (I haven't done it yet, but there's still time!) So it was a delight to find this new-to-me book, an autobiographical account of her experiences with animals she and her family befriended over the years. It was like getting to travel through time and visit with an old friend, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

cw: describes animal interaction practices which would not be considered ethical by contemporary standards

[Heather Tribe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This spring I came across blue jay chicks that had fallen out of the nest and had no idea how to look after them. If only I had read this book before then! This is an amusing collection of tales of a family and the little quirks that each animal, belonging to their family, exhibits.
I learned so much! For example, I will never look at a crow the same way again after learning just how clever they are!
The storyline meanders a bit, and some chapters switch from focusing on the chapter namesake to another animal without much introduction, so my 5-year old became lost a few times. Also the first half was more amusing for younger kids than the second half I think. But overall a great read for those interested in nature. The final chapter was my favorite.

[Jasmine Hariri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tarantula in My Purse: and 172 Other Wild Pets by Jean Craighead George is a good book. I recommend it because it has different chapters you can read with different animals each time. Jean's children, Twig, Craig, Luke; always brought home different creatures to examine. Back in those days, animals were like pets and it was not illegal to keep these pets. Animals were sometimes tortured and killed so Jean and her family brought them home. Her father started this tradition and he had many insects, wild birds, and other creatures. If that were me, I would of dmired each and every one of those amazing creatures.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous, heart-warming, and just plain entertaining, these stories by Newbery Medalist Jean Craighead George recall what life was like as she raised three children and 173 wild pets. On any given day there might be a bat in the refrigerator, an owl in the shower, or a crow at the kitchen table. Jean Craighead George’s respect for nature and its many creatures is evident in all of her writing. Here, she offers a personal, firsthand account of the many animals that made their way into her life and her books. 1996 ‘Pick of the Lists’ (ABA)
1996 Children’s Books (NY Public Library)

[Mamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming book about the many lessons and kindnesses children learn when animals are in the house. I only knew Ms. George through her fiction before I read this book, and it was inspiring to see how seamlessly her love and respect for nature ran through her life as well as her literary works. That her children are all involved in understanding, writing about, studying and respecting the natural world is the ultimate testimony to a life lived with integrity. "Julie of the Wolves" was one of my favorite books when I was a child, now I have even more reasons to appreciate this author.

[Lilac Mohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter (almost 8 years old) just adored this book. She is a huge fan of Jean Craighead George (mostly through the "13 Moons" series) and loved hearing of the entire family's adventures with wild animals. The stories my daughter shared with me from the book are funny and heartwarming. If you have a nature-loving child in your life, I highly recommend this book with one warning: Your child will inevitably start begging you to allow her to bring all sorts of creatures into the house.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and laugh-filled read aloud to my 8-year old nephew. We enjoyed hearing these true tales of life with animals, and there was even some “real-life” challenges thrown into the mix, reminding us of the emotions that we humans experience as we have the privilege to stewards the animals in Creation. This book could easily be enjoyed as an adult, even though it seems like a kids’ book.

[Jenna Heydt · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 9 year old daughter recommended this book for me because she thought it was so funny. It was cute and had its moments. The whole time I was reading this it didn’t sit well with me that the family rehabilitated the animals then kept them as pets. I didn’t love that they didn’t try to get them back to their natural homes as quickly as possibly. Loved that they all became biologists/naturalists - that’s how you learn and study natural animals, not in your home.

[Jessica Atwater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two of my children are reading this for school, as a nature reader. As someone who tried to keep houseflies and snails as pets as a young child, I felt a kinship with these stories of a family's interactions with a variety of wild animals. Informative without info-dumping, this book is heart warming and honest.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

My son especially really enjoyed this book. We read it for our first grade curriculum. I thought it provided a great example of exactly what not to do, as they often seemed to "rescue" animals they had no idea how to care for, which often turns out badly. However, it was fun to look up information on all the various creatures that passed through their house.