Fox
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Fox is a picture book in a class of its own. A compelling drama about friendship, loyalty, risk and betrayal, it's a story as rich for adults as for children.
Through the charred forest, over hot ash, runs Dog with a bird clamped in his big, gentle mouth. He takes her to his cave above the river and there he tries to tend her burnt wing: but Magpie does not want his help.
'I will never again be able to fly,' she whispers.
'I know,' says Dog.
He is silent for a moment, and then he says, 'I am blind in one eye but life is still good.'
An injured magpie and a one-eyed dog live happily together in the forest, until a jealous fox arrives to teach them what it means to be alone.
This breathtaking picture book has won acclaim around the world: CBCA Picture Book of the Year; two Premiers' literary awards; honours in Germany, Brazil, Japan; a shortlisting for the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal in the UK, and more.
Awards:
Winner of the CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award
Winner of the NSW Premier's Literary Award
Winner of the QLD Premier's Literary Award
Winner of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
Winner of the Japan School Library Association, Best Translated Picture Book
Winner of the IBBY, Best Translation for Children
Winner of the IBBY Honour Diploma, Illustration
Shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal
Winner of the APA Design Award, Best Children's Book
Reviews:
- 'A publishing landmark.' Magpies
- 'Magnificent.' Reading Time
- 'A stunning book' Australian Bookseller and Publisher
- 'The images from this unsettling, provocative story will resonate long after the book has been closed.' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
- 'A strongly atmospheric psycho-fable - visually striking - an open-ended discussion starter.' Kirkus Reviews
- 'Fox is an archetypal drama about friendship, loyalty, risk and betrayal - a story that is as rich for adults as for older children.' Los Angeles Times
- 'An incredible book with the shattering power of the best fables ... beautiful, wild and tragic.' The Bookseller
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wild (Nighty Night) departs from her playful characters of recent books for this haunting look at friendship and cruelty, geared to older readers. After Dog saves Magpie from a fire and nurses her burnt wing, the two forge a powerful bond. The one-eyed dog and the flightless bird travel together across a charred, leafless landscape, with Magpie feeling the wind in her feathers as she rides on Dog's back. "Fly, Dog, fly! I will be your missing eye, and you will be my wings." The mood changes quickly, however, when Fox enters his sleek, orange body curled around one side of a spread and sets Magpie on edge ("His smell seems to fill the cave a smell of rage and envy and loneliness"). The tension Wild invokes in juxtaposing their disparate emotions creates a disquieting feeling that Brooks (Rosie and Tortoise) mirrors in his artwork, especially in close-ups of the characters' eyes. His hand-lettered text (resembling a child's shaky penmanship) appears in oddly positioned blocks, with some flipped vertically against the page edges and gutter. The stark illustrations, in mixed media and collage, expose the characters' raw emotions with brusque hash marks in thick applications of mostly dark paint. Only when Fox cons Magpie into switching her allegiance and traveling with him do readers discover the depth of Fox's alienation. The tale ends on a tenuously hopeful note, and the images from this unsettling, provocative story will resonate long after the book has been closed. Ages 6-up.
