Among children’s books that I have enjoyed is Donald Hall’s The Man Who Lived Alone. The most appealing feature of Hall’s book is probably the woodcuts, which lend a simple ruggedness and sentiment to the pages to complement the story. The story offers a stylized rationale for the eremitism of the protagonist: the abused youth who ran away, traveled widely, worked in various jobs and settled in a cottage near his beloved cousin, her husband, and little daughter to become a hermit. The hermit tends a few animals and can “do just about everything” tactile and handy. He has his benign idiosyncrasies, of course, and is not anti-social insofar as he works a couple of weeks a year to pay taxes, will help anyone with house or other repairs, and loves to sit and reminisce with his cousin’s now-grown daughter and her children and husband. I also like his copious beard, his owl visitor, his collection of newspapers, and his meals.