Name All the Animals: A Memoir

The critically acclaimed, heartbreaking memoir that is at once a gorgeous, profound, and redemptive story of a family holding desperately to the memory of a lost child; and a touching, intelligent, and inspiring coming-out story.

A luminous, true story, Name All the Animals is an unparalleled account of grief and secret love: the tale of a family clinging to the memory of a lost child, and of a young woman struggling to define herself in the wake of his loss. As children, siblings Alison and Roy Smith were so close that their mother called them by one name, Alroy. But when Alison was fifteen, she woke one day to learn that Roy, eighteen, was dead.

Heartbreaking but hopeful, this extraordinary memoir explores the aftermath of Roy's death: his parents' enduring romance, the faith of a deeply religious community, and the excitement and anguish of Alison's first love--a taboo relationship that opens up a world beyond the death of her brother.

Author: Alison Smith
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Published: 02/01/2005
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 8.36h x 6.54w x 0.85d
ISBN: 9780743255233

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.2
Point Value: 15
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 108717 / Name All the Animals: A Memoir


Review Citation(s):
Ingram Advance 02/01/2005 pg. 34
New York Times 03/13/2005 pg. 32

About the Author
Smith, Alison: - Alison Smith has been a resident at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney's and various anthologies. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Please visit www.namealltheanimals.com.