And, Too, the Fox

K-Gr 3–A red fox frolics in the forest, splashes in the water, and slinks through suburbs. “He doesn’t say a word./ Just uses those four black feet/ to silently go about.” Fox eventually catches his dinner: “lazy rodents too slow for the telephone pole./ He takes only what he needs.” After exploring the neighborhood, he heads back to the wild. The text is full of evocative imagery, which is mirrored by the stylized illustrations full of radiant colors. Drawings capture the fox’s exuberant movements as he plays, hunts, explores, and is watched by people. In the wild, Fox is surrounded by plants and prey with a twilight sky that transitions to night as he moves into a suburb, then moves into the pale tones of sunrise as the fox heads back home. The drawings show careful attention to detail of plants and animals. Fox’s personality—mischievous and slightly aloof, but occasionally content as he lays in the grass—shines throughout the story. There is one drawing showing the fox with a rodent in his mouth, which younger children might find upsetting.