What We're Reading: Tracy

The Animal Family, by Randall Jarrell, illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

An enchanting book with a dreamlike quality, The Animal Family tells the story of a lonely hunter who falls in love with a mermaid. Their unusual family grows with the addition of a lost bear cub and then a shipwrecked boy. The simple story, quietly told with beautiful prose, conveys strong themes of family, memory, tradition, and hopefulness. This is a rare book that stays in the minds and hearts of its readers for a lifetime.