It has been a long time since I have read an account of a daughter, son, mother, and father who love one another, free of resentments and pettiness. 'In refusing to lose her brother, Roy, Smith gives us a memoir devoted to what truly matters. David Schickler, Author of Kissing in Manhattan Alison Smith is a cool warrior of writer, but she makes us want to hug her and her story with every possible human warmth.' Her brother, her schooldays, her prose, her candor - all are lean and vital. Smith, with scrappy, unsentimental grace, battles her giant and wins our spectator hearts. 'The grief in this memoir is the size of Goliath. Laura Moriarty, Author of The Center of Everything In poetic but understated prose, Smith carries the reader through her grief without ever resorting to fairy tales or half-truths her refusal of easy comforts is what gives this memoir so much weight and beauty. 'To read Name All the Animals is to witness a fieerce battle between a teenager's despair and her almost subconscious will to survive and find joy. I find it hard to imagine the reader who would end Smith's book and not have tucked away a deeper, more profound inderstanding of how we survive this human condition of faith and grief, of love and life.' Name All the Animals demands a 'must-read' list of its own. Haven Kimmel, Author of A Girl Named Zippy and Something Rising (Light and Swift) 'Tender, sad, and without a trace of self-pity, Name All the Animals is a beautiful memoir.

Name all the animals by alison smith