With stunning artwork and a rhyming text, the illustrator of the Mercy Watson
books tells a tale of human-animal connection full of humor and heart. When a
circus ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, the poor animals are left on
their own to swim the chilly waters. Staggering onto a nearby island, they soon
win over the wary townspeople with their kind, courageous ways. So well do the
critters blend in that when the greedy circus owner returns to claim them,
villagers of all species conspire to outsmart the bloated blowhard. With buoyant
rhymes and brilliantly caricatured illustrations evoking the early nineteenth
century, Chris Van