Finnegan Fox

PreS-K–Finnegan Fox, one of eight fox siblings, is awakened by his family one evening with the exciting news that the big night has arrived: it is time for the little foxes to make a first trip out of the foxhole. Finnegan is not ready. In rhyming iambic tetrameter, Gilstrap demonstrates how the supportive and patient family members understand and respect Finnegan’s need to wait until he is ready to venture out of the safe and familiar. Full of simple emotional intelligence, the narrative helps children grasp that peers may need time before tackling new things, and that all that is required of them is patience and support. An author’s note at the back connects Gilstrap’s childhood experience with agoraphobia to the social needs amongst community members; Gilstrap makes a compelling case for adding this to school collections with a dearth of books on the subject. Illustrations in a palette of blues, pinks, and earth tones gently convey the coziness of the woodland scenes and provide striking contrast to the bright orange of the foxes in this winter scene. In pen, ink, gouache, and acrylic digital scenes, Nichols succeeds at bringing a moonlit night in the woods to life.