The Christmas Fox
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Give the gift of Christmas with this beautiful holiday tale that celebrates the true meaning of the season.
"Come!" drummed a woodpecker one cold, wintry day. "A baby is coming. There's work to be done!"
One by one, from field and forest, the animals make their way to a barn. The cow has sweet-smelling hay to offer the baby. The bluebird has the gift of song. And a lamb has soft, cozy wool. But the shy little fox has nothing to offer . . . or so he thinks.
With its gentle text and warm, expressive illustrations, this irresistible take on the Nativity story invites even the youngest child to discover the truest gifts of the Christmas season: the ones that come from the heart.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McGrory (Quick, Slow, Mango!) transplants the Nativity story to a snowy woodland setting, where a puppylike fox ignores the urgings of his fellow animals as they prepare for the baby's arrival. "Come!" says a brown cow, peering back at the fox as it trudges toward a distant barn. "A baby is coming. There's a place to make warm with sweet-smelling hay." Instead, the fox romps in the woods, eventually coming to believe that he has nothing to share with the child. "Just come," urges the donkey. "It is enough." It's a distinctly allegorical version of the story Mary and Joseph are unseen, and fox's recalcitrance recalls Aesop's "The Ant and the Grasshopper." Yet McGrory's soft, gestural artwork, washed with pale color and infused with lemony light, celebrate the fox's play, and his joyful spirit is a gift both to the waiting child and to readers. Ages 3 7.
