The award-winning allegorical fantasy about a boy who is half ox, half-human-now in paperback for the first time. An ALA Notable Book; a Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies. "No one can tell that I am the son of an ox. Like my father, I am hardworking, and I have a stubborn, tenacious nature. But so do many pure humans..." In the mythic past, when people and animals lived side by side, were friends, married and had offspring, the oxboy would have been accepted and safe. But now he is an outcast and must hide his true identity-or die. Anne Mazer's stunning allegorical fantasy examines our relationship with nature-and our feelings about our own natures-as it reveals and challenges our deepest prejudices.