Next Gerald says he will go to the Wilds of Nantucket. The picture shows Gerald tugging the Joats from the back of his ship. Gerald says he would load up five boats with “a family of Joats,” an animal whose features combine those of cows, squirrels, dogs, and goats. Gerald says he will catch animals in caves and brooks and crannies and nooks “that you don’t read about in geography books.” The illustration depicts Gerald arriving in a boat to the exotic-looking country of “Motta-fa-Potta-fa-Pell.” Two human figures stand on the shore watching him with fearful, skeptical looks on their faces.

The illustration depicts caricatures of Chinese people helping carry a Flustard in a cage on top of their heads while Gerald stands on top of the cage, proudly holding a shotgun. Gerald says he will hunt in the mountains of “Zomba-ma-Tant with helpers who all wear their eyes at a slant.” Gerald says he would capture a Bustard bird and a Flustard beast. Gerald says if you want to catch beasts you don’t see every day, you have to go to places out of the way, such as the North Pole, where he would ride a snowmobile and pick up walrus-like creatures to bring to the zoo and make his menagerie grow. He imagines that people would be so shocked they would swallow their gum and question where he hunts such odd animals. He would also find an elephant-cat-a combination of elephant and cat. The illustration depicts the creatures, stacked on top of each while roosting in the hen below’s plumage. He imagines a type of hen with a topknot of gathered feathers that other hens roost in. Gerald believes his new zoo-McGrew Zoo-will make people spread the word about his interesting new animals.

He imagines that people would stare and comment on the strange sight, praising Gerald. Gerald imagines a ten-footed lion, with five legs on each side. He would unlock the pens and cages, and then find beasts of a more unusual kind. Gerald says he would make changes, such as releasing the old-fashioned lions and tigers to make way for something new. However, Gerald speculates that he would improve the zoo if he ran it. Gerald, a young boy, comments that the zoo is pretty good, and that the man who runs it seems proud of his zoo. The zookeeper stands with his hands in his pocket, also looking content. He stands before a modest lion display in which a lion sleeps contentedly in his cage. Written in anapestic tetrameter and narrated in the first-person perspective, If I Ran the Zooopens with Gerald McGrew, the story’s protagonist and narrator, arriving at a zoo.

If ran the zoo