Gerald Durrell Books in Order

In this first Puppy Tales story, an eager young dog slips away for an afternoon of unsupervised exploring, meeting farm animals and finding mild trouble before being safely gathered back in.

Here Puppy meets a variety of other pets, learning how to play gently and make friends with creatures who look and act very differently. The simple storyline emphasizes kindness and curiosity.

Puppy joins in a busy field day full of races, games, and outdoor fun with children and other animals. The focus stays on energy, teamwork, and the joy of running around outside.

Puppy and friends spend a day at the seaside, discovering waves, rock pools, and new animals along the shore. Sun, sand, and small mishaps make this a cheerful holiday story for dog-loving children.

Durrell recounts an expedition to Madagascar to find and help save the strange nocturnal aye-aye and other endangered lemurs. Travel difficulties, remote forests, and determined local partners fill this late-career conservation memoir.

A gentle picture-book story about Toby, a pet tortoise whose slow wanderings lead to small adventures in and around the garden. Simple text and warm humor make it a comforting read-aloud for younger children.

Marking a milestone for his zoo, Durrell gathers essays and sketches about animals, staff, and conservation projects. The pieces mix celebration with candid notes on the challenges of running a modern "ark" for endangered species.

This portrait of a working zoo keeper unfolds through stories about the animals in his care and the people around him. It highlights the patience, hard work, and quiet humor behind what can look like a dream job.

An anthology collecting what Durrell considered some of the best dog tales, from moving true accounts to lively fiction. The stories vary in style but all focus on the complicated, enduring bond between dogs and people.

In this sequel, the same family travels back in time to the age of dinosaurs, encountering terrifying and strange prehistoric creatures. The adventure balances excitement with explanations of how these animals might have lived.

Three children join their eccentric Great-Uncle Lancelot on a balloon trip around the world, meeting animals in their natural habitats. The story mixes fantasy travel with simple natural history facts, making it both playful and informative.

This travelogue follows Gerald and Lee Durrell on a visit to the Soviet Union, where they lecture, meet scientists, and explore local zoos and wild places. Cultural surprises and shared enthusiasm for animals run throughout the journey.

Here Durrell turns the camera around, explaining how the television series The Amateur Naturalist was filmed. He shares mishaps with weather, equipment, and uncooperative animals, giving a light, insider’s view of making wildlife programs.

Written for younger readers, Ark on the Move follows Durrell and his team as they travel to collect animals and move them safely to new homes. The focus stays on practical care, gentle humor, and the personalities of the creatures involved.

A hands-on guide to exploring nature close to home, this book shows how to watch birds, insects, and plants with simple tools. Step-by-step suggestions encourage readers to become "amateur naturalists" wherever they live.

Set on the fictional island of Zenkali, this comic novel follows officials, locals, and scientists as a planned development threatens a rare bird and its ecosystem. Bureaucracy, superstition, and conservation politics collide in inventive ways.

A themed collection of tales about dogs, drawn from Durrell’s own work and other writers. The stories highlight loyal working dogs, pampered pets, and wayward strays, offering a varied, affectionate look at humans’ oldest animal companion.

This collection of short stories, including the title tale about finding a new husband for Durrell’s mother, ranges from romantic misfires to travel mishaps. The tone is playful, with plenty of oddball characters and gentle satire.

The third volume of Durrell’s Corfu trilogy offers more episodes from his sunlit childhood—new tutors, more animals, and fresh disasters for his long-suffering family. It rounds out the portrait of the island just before war disrupts their idyll.

In this final Corfu memoir, Durrell revisits the last years of his family’s time on the island, filling the pages with eccentric visitors, rescued animals, and the first hints that their carefree world cannot last forever.

Durrell recounts a conservation expedition to islands like Mauritius and Rodrigues, home to rare creatures such as fruit bats and pink pigeons. Field setbacks, difficult terrain, and determined local allies shape the fight to keep these species alive.

An anthology of animal tales chosen or written by Durrell, bringing together favorite stories about dogs, birds, and more. The pieces are varied in tone but united by curiosity about how animals live and behave.

A mysterious talking parcel leads three children into the hidden land of Mythologia, where dragons, griffins, and other creatures are under threat. To save them, the children must outwit sinister enemies in a fast-moving, animal-filled fantasy adventure.

Durrell looks back on his first job as a student keeper at Whipsnade Zoo, learning the hard way how to care for bears, reptiles, and hoofed stock. Misunderstandings, escapes, and patient mentors shape these early-career stories.

This book collects several comic stories, from ill-fated picnics to family mishaps and animal escapades. Each piece stands alone, offering quick doses of Durrell’s eye for absurd detail and affection for both people and creatures.

Durrell describes journeys to Africa and other regions in search of rare animals, including the elusive colobus monkey. The adventures are funny and chaotic, but threaded with a growing concern about extinction and the ethics of collecting.

A collection of autobiographical pieces, this volume gathers stories from different stages of Durrell’s life—Corfu childhood, zoo work, and later travels. It works like a tasting menu of his humor, wildlife encounters, and family anecdotes.

A concise, educational look at zoos, this book explains why they exist, how enclosures are designed, and what keepers do each day. Durrell stresses both the pleasures of visiting and the responsibility zoos have toward conservation.

An accessible introduction to zoos aimed mainly at younger readers, this book explains how animals are housed, fed, and cared for. Durrell uses simple examples to show why good zoos matter and how they can help protect species.

This sequel to My Family and Other Animals returns to Gerald’s boyhood on Corfu, adding new animals, tutors, and neighbors to the mix. The episodes deepen both the family comedy and the island’s natural history.

In this comic novel for younger readers, a group of island children plot to save their beloved donkeys from being sold off to tourists. Their schemes grow ever more elaborate, mixing slapstick adventure with affectionate portraits of village life.

A mild-mannered clerk unexpectedly inherits a circus elephant named Rosy and must figure out what to do with her. Their journey through the English countryside leads to chaos in pubs, hotels, and courtrooms alike.

Based on travels for a television series, Durrell roams across several continents visiting reserves, zoos, and wild habitats. Lighthearted field stories sit alongside reflections on conservation and the pressures facing animals around the world.

This book lays out Durrell’s vision for modern zoos, focusing on conservation, animal welfare, and careful breeding of rare species. Part manifesto and part practical guide, it explains why the "stationary ark" matters for threatened wildlife.

Here Durrell turns from collecting trips to daily life running his zoo on Jersey. Escapes, awkward visitors, and stubborn animals make for comic anecdotes, while behind the scenes he wrestles with money, staff, and breeding endangered species.

Durrell describes an expedition to West Africa that ends with a motley menagerie arriving back in England and, ultimately, Jersey. The book captures both the hunt for animals and the chaos of trying to house them.

Set in remote parts of Argentina, this memoir follows Durrell as he searches for penguins, parrots, and other animals to stock his future zoo. Harsh weather, long journeys, and spirited locals keep the trip anything but quiet.

A collection of short episodes from Durrell’s expeditions, each focused on a particular animal or group. Friendly, informal chapters introduce creatures from jaguars to parrots, along with the often comic efforts to capture or care for them.

Durrell and his wife travel through Argentina and Paraguay collecting animals while coping with unreliable transport, language gaps, and local customs. The result is a funny, affectionate portrait of South American landscapes and their wildlife.

Young Gerald and his eccentric family swap damp England for sunlit Corfu, where he spends his days chasing insects, reptiles, and neighbors' pets. This joyful memoir mixes natural history with chaotic family comedy.

Written for younger readers, this book retells Durrell's early collecting expeditions and the animals he brought back for zoos. Short chapters introduce exotic species, practical fieldwork, and his growing belief that zoos could help conservation.

This travel memoir follows Durrell and two companions to the rivers and forests of British Guiana in search of animals for zoos. Swamps, riverboats, and eccentric helpers feature in a string of comic and sometimes hair-raising episodes.

Returning to the Cameroons, Durrell teams up with the Fon of Bafut and a tireless pack of beagles to collect animals. The book blends hunting trips, cultural snapshots, and affectionate sketches of the creatures they are trying to catch.

Durrell recounts his first animal-collecting expedition to the rainforests of the Cameroons, chasing rare creatures for future zoos. Funny mishaps, vivid portraits of local people, and close-up encounters with wildlife shape this lively early memoir.