Book Review- The Tarantula in my Purse

The Tarantula in my Purse and 172 Other Wild Pets is one of my favorite books. It is written and illustrated by Jean Craighead George, who also wrote many other books about animals and nature, such as "Julie of the Wolves" and "My Side of the Mountain."

The true stories take place before people had to have licenses to capture and keep wild animals. In the book, Jean and her three children, Twig, Craig, and Luke catch many wild animals to be pets.

Hints in the book seem to state that catching wild animals for pets was a common occurrence. For example, Jean says "Like every pet magpie I have known, she was called 'Maggie.'"

My favorite of the "wild pets" is Crowbar, the unbelievably intelligent crow.  I like how after Crowbar learns to talk (yes, crows, ravens and other non-parrot birds can talk) he scares away picnickers by flying on to picnic tables and saying "hello". The people often run away and Crowbar can eat their food.

The George's sure do some crazy things, like building an indoor pond, keeping a biting weasel, keeping turtles and ducklings in the bathtub, keeping a bat in the refrigerator, letting a duck and goose ride in the car ect.

I also like the part where it describes all the pets in Luke's bedroom:

1 black snake
1 kind snake
1 iguana
2 box turtles
1 gypsy moth in a cocoon
7 salamander
12 toad tadpoles
7 bullfrog tadpoles
and 1 boa constrictor 

Even if you are not much of an animal lover, you should read this book. It is very interesting.

Here is the link to the book on amazon: Amazon: The Tarantula in my Purse