Little Fox in the Forest

Starred review from November 21, 2016
When a girl sets her treasured stuffed fox down in a playground and a real fox snatches it up, she witnesses the act but can’t catch the thief. Accompanied by a school friend, the girl ventures into the woods, asking the animals they meet if they’ve seen the fox. Graegin’s (The Lost Gift) story is wordless, but her panels are so clear that readers can easily supply dialogue of their own. When at last the children find the fox, they understand the crime (and the criminal) in a new light, and Graegin ends on a note of tenderness. The story’s delights are many, but a special draw is the secret world the girl and boy discover. Their reality is painted in shades of dull blue-gray, but as they press on, small splashes of color hint at what’s to come. A hedgerow doorway delivers them into a world of brilliantly colored stores and houses: it’s the forest animals’ own private realm, drawn in careful detail. This is a story not just to read but to inhabit. Ages 4–8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

Starred review from November 1, 2016
A small child, a fox, and the deep forest: not a grim tale at all but rather a magical journey culminating in an act of mutual kindness. Front endpapers show a shelf with dolls, stuffed animals (including a stuffed fox), and books, including Adventures of a Small Fox and The Magical Unicorn, which foreshadow the story to come. The protagonist, a brown-skinned child with a black pageboy, brings the much-beloved fox to show and tell and then takes it out to the playground at recess. But when the child plays on the swings, a real fox takes the stuffed fox and runs off with it through the woods. Up to now the wordless panels have been tinged with blue; the live fox is a vivid orange. The child and a light-skinned friend with close-cropped hair and glasses follow, the pages becoming more varied in hue and highly saturated before bursting, Oz-like, with color when they reach the fairy-tale town where the fox lives. The little fox and the child exchange hugs and stuffed animals, the child returns home, and the endpapers now show a polka-dot unicorn in place of the stuffed fox. (Unfortunately, this unicorn, crucial to the arc of the wordless narrative, is mostly covered by the flyleaf.) The illustrations are rendered in pencil, watercolor, and ink, assembled and colored digitally. Young children will pore over this wordless picture book again and again, finding something new to enjoy each time. A wordless picture book that makes a great read. (Picture book. 3-7)

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December 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 2-A series of monochromatic cells begin this wordless book. A young girl searches her house to bring her most treasured possession (her favorite toy, a stuffed fox) to share during show-and-tell at school. As readers turn pages, a young fox spots the toy unattended and swiftly runs off with it into the nearby forest, followed by the girl and a classmate. With each succeeding frame, the running fox is highlighted, brilliant orange against a neutral green-gray forest, each scene digitally colored with pencil, watercolor, and ink. Hidden residents gradually come to life with color until a turn of the page reveals a sudden double-page fantasy of small homes filled with personified animals. This tale of a missing toy builds to emphasize the girl's unselfishness-a gesture of a generous heart. Movement of the characters from cell to cell encourages children to infer emotions and plot action, and page details will send viewers looking for small clues that broaden the story. VERDICT An engaging exercise in reading pictures and creative narrative. A general addition for younger readers.-Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2016
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Illustrator Graegin makes her authorial debut in this wordless picture-book adventure. Through cyan-blue paneled scenes, delicately rendered in pencil, watercolor, and ink, readers watch as a young girl gets ready for school and receives instructions to bring something old and treasured for show-and-tell. The girl immediately knows what she will bring: her beloved stuffed-animal fox. After school the next day, the girl plays on the swing as a real red-faced fox eyes her backpack from the bushes. Quick as, well, a fox, it snatches the toy from her bag and dashes into the woods. The girl follows the furry thief through the aqua-hued trees, pops of color interrupting the landscape, until she arrives at a vibrantly colored village, populated by nattily dressed woodland creatures. She makes her way through the town, asking animals for help, and eventually arrives at the fox's house, where their toy conflict is sweetly resolved. Children will love the whimsy of this story and how a simple trip to school could end in an enchanted village. The panel artwork moves the narrative swiftly along, while full- and double-page spreads give readers a chance to pause over delightfully detailed scenes. A charming, fantastical twist on the backyard adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2017
In this imaginative story, a girl brings a beloved stuffed fox to school for show-and-tell. When she sets it under the playground swing set, a fox (resembling the toy) jumps out from behind the bushes and grabs it. A bespectacled classmate joins the girl in her pursuit of the fox through a shadowy wood. The children explore the forest together, encountering new creatures and seeking information along the way. They discover a lively woodland metropolis, with tree houses and creature-run businesses, and are led to the home of the young thief, where they orchestrate a trade. The story is told in comics format using rectangular panels and pencil, watercolor, ink, and digital illustrations. Starting with a limited, blue-hued palette and evolving to include vibrant, full-color spreads, it is mostly wordless, with bits of atmospheric text, including writings on buildings and the classroom chalkboard. In the last few panels, the children return to their (monochromatic) neighborhood, and the final scene reveals both girl and fox snuggling with their new comfort items. Endpapers featuring the girl's bookshelf -- full of nature books and toys that reference parts of the children's journey -- invite viewers to ponder whether the whimsical events were true magic or only a dream. elisa gall

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)