Ready Reference Treatise: Fantastic Mr. Fox

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Roald Dahl was first published in 1970. It is a children’s novel. The illustrations were done by Donald Chaffin.

The story revolves around the titular character, Mr. Fox and how he deceives his farmer neighbours to steal their food from the neighbours. The book was adapted into a movie in 2009.

Right after its publication, the book became very popular among children. Likewise, the movie of the same name was very much successful. The children liked it very much.

According to Dahl, the author of the present novel, he was habitual to taking long walks in the countryside. There was a tree called the Witch’s Tree. The author was inspired by that tree. It was said to be about one hundred and fifty years old beech. The tree is unfortunately not there now. The author imagined that a family of very clever foxes lived in a hole under the trunk of that tree. According to the author, the whole story took shape from the inspiration he got from that tree.