Conrad Buff (1886–1975)

Mary and Conrad Buff, the husaband-and-wife children's book team who produced Caldecott Honor-winning Dash and Dart (1942) and the Newbery Honor-winning Big Tree (1946), The Apple and the Arrow (1951) and Magic Maize (1953), turn to their favorite subject - the natural world - in this story about a gray fox named Trix. The narrative follows Trix from his birth, through his time as a pup, and into adulthood. When time and growth separates him from his family, his curiosity leads him down into show more the city, where he finds the House of Good Smells, and a human family who feed him. Frightened away by a police dog, Trix returns to the mountains, where he meets Vix, a young vixen who becomes his mate. Eventually, driven by the hunger of winter, they return to the city, where the human children, Jane and David, are delighted to see them again...

The Buffs produced fourteen children's books, from 1937 through 1968, but Trix and Vix is only the second I have read, following upon their Dash and Dart. Published in 1960, toward the end of their career, it is (like many of their others) a work of naturalistic fiction. Text heavy, for a picture-book, it imagines the human world from a fox's perspective, but does not anthropomorphize its vulpine subject. There is sympathy here, for the creatures of the wild, and a sense that people should behave humanely toward animal-kind. At one point, when the children are upset at a picture in the newspaper of a boy holding up a fox he had shot with a bow and arrow, their father observes that "some men and boys just love to kill anything living." The accompanying artwork here is as naturalistic as the text, and looks to be done in pencil. It has plenty of the detailed hatching for which Conrad Buff was apparently known. Although I enjoyed the illustrations, I did find the animals more skillfully done than the people, whose faces seemed a little off to me. Leaving that aside, this was an enjoyable book, one I would recommend to young readers who enjoy more naturalistic animal fiction, as well as to those interested in the Buffs and their work. show less

Opening in a great forest, in a quiet, green bed of ferns where a little fawn lies concealed, this poetic picture-book/early-reader describes the first year of life of two young cervine siblings, Dash and Dart. Struggling to find their feet as newborns, nuzzling Mother Doe for milk, they must slowly learn the ways of the forest, from the sounds and scents of danger to the seasonal migration out of the mountains. Spending their first winter in the lowlands, the two fawns encounter other deer show more for the first time - including the awe-inspiring Old Horny, King of the Forest - and discover how to forage for their own food. Their return to the mountains in the spring sees them newly independent and, in Dash's case, looking forward to the growth of his first antlers. Perhaps one day, he muses to himself, he will be the King of the Forest...

Chosen as one of two Caldecott Honor Books in 1943 - the other title to be chosen was Clare Turlay Newberry's Marshmallow - this sweet little volume has a gentle charm that is very appealing, quietly casting its spell over the reader. The text is presented in free form prose (almost free verse) divided into very brief sections or chapters, and is accompanied by lovely sepia-toned illustrations - in pencil, I think? - some presented on the page facing the text, some on the same page as the text, and some on two-page wordless spreads intermingled with the text. Although the title implies that this is the story of both Dash and Dart, there's no question that this is really Dash's story - his activities predominate, and his aspirations form the conclusion of the book. I believe that there is a sequel, Forest Folk, that details how he did indeed come to be King of the Forest. Recommended to young forest lovers, particularly those with a weakness for stories (such as Bambi) about young fawns. show less

A young Mayan boy helps his family plant crops and tend to their meager farm. One day his older brother brings home some "magic maize" - corn from the gringos, who say it will grow and produce much better than their own - but their father is too distrustful of the white people to use it. So Fabian decides to plant it in secret. This Newbery Honor Book from 1953 feels its age; it's filled with subalterns who can't seem to make ends meet until the White Saviors come to the rescue. Blech.

A good read aloud choice for kindergarten or first grade, although it holds the interest of older children as well. Buff tells the story of William Tell from the perspective of his son. Provides an good context for a discussion about civil disobedience and authority, although those who oppose war for any reason will not agree with the moral tone of the book.