Alison McGhee

Beautiful but heart-breaking, this thoughtful examination of sisterly love and loss from co-authors Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee follows the story of Jules, a young rock-hound whose deep bond with her elder sister Sylvie has been a mainstay in her life, since the death of their mother some time before. When Sylvie, whose 'burning wish' is always to run faster, falls into the Slip - the point at which the local river goes briefly underground - and is never seen again, Jules and her father show more must once again face the terrible grief of losing a family member. Trying to deal with her own guilt - why didn't she stop Sylvie that day, when she disobeyed their father's rules, and sprinted to the forbidden Slip? - Jules must also contend with her best friend Sam, whose elder brother Elk is newly returned from the war in Afghanistan, and her promise to find the 'Grotto,' a legendary local cave where grieving people have been reputed for generations to leave offerings of rocks for their lost loved ones. Parallel to Jules' story, is that of Senna, a young fox who is born one of the 'Kennen' - special animals with a strong bond to the spirits, who come into the world to accomplish some specific purpose, usually involving a human being. As Jules and Senna's paths converge, tragedy and transcendence is not far behind, and the reader learns the significance of Sylvie's burning wish, and just who Senna is...

I finished Maybe a Fox on the uptown A-train, with tears trickling down my face. As is usually the case when I am deeply moved, it took me some time to process my feelings, and to marshal my thoughts for a review. I was attracted to the story initially because of the fox character - the depiction of foxes in children's literature is one of my research areas - but found the humans every bit as compelling. The co-authors here capture the strength of a sister's devotion, and the depth of pain at a sister's loss. They also, through the story of Elk, offer a sensitive depiction of the trauma of returning home from war. I was intrigued (naturally) by the character of Senna, and the idea of the 'Kennen.' Kennan is, of course, the German verb 'to know,' something the authors must surely have been aware of, and Senna is a fox with a heightened sense of knowing - of connection to the natural world, whether that be the forest, the catamount (Sam's obsession) or the bear. She is also a fox with a special connection to one human - Jules - just as the catamount has a special connection to Elk. I had certain preconceptions about what that would turn out to mean - I assumed that Senna was meant to be a kind of guide, something that is becoming more common, in fox stories. Instead, she is a sort of reincarnated form of Sylvie, and her self-sacrifice at the end of the book has a power and truth that I was not expecting.

A beautiful, beautiful book, Maybe a Fox is a book I will be pondering for some time. I would recommend it to fans of Appelt's other books - apparently some of its themes have also been explored in her previous titles - and to young readers interested in stories featuring family and close friend dynamics, and in the human connection to the natural world. show less

Bink and Gollie have the best of both worlds, with a classic style and a contemporary flair. In the classic tradition of easy reader odd couples, Bink and Gollie are total opposites, both physically and in personality, but they're best friends nonetheless.

There are three chapters, each containing a separate story. In the first story, Gollie is thrilled to discover she's really royalty. When short and spunky Bink comes over to hear the exciting news, she's disappointed that Gollie is no show more longer going to cook pancakes for her and leaves. At first, Gollie enjoys being a queen, but eventually she misses Bink and is happy to go back to being plain old Gollie again.

In the second story, Bink is tired of being short and tries out a marvelous invention to grow taller. It doesn't quite work the way she had hoped, but with some help from Gollie she feels taller in the end, even if she hasn't grown at all. In the third and final story, Bink and Gollie decide to start a collection, hoping to get their names and picture in a book of records. With a little help from another friend, they find a way to make a record even if they don't have an amazing collection.

Fucile's facile illustrations use an economy of line to express emotions, humor, and action. Bink and Gollie are splashes of bright color in a gray and white world, their backgrounds fading behind them as they skate through the story.

In addition to being an odd couple, Bink and Gollie returns to another older style in not fitting perfectly into any of the tightly boxed publishing categories. Are they an easy reader? Well, they're a little oversized, but they have the odd couple, three short chapters, brief text, and spot illustrations. But the text is much more advanced than the typical easy reader. Are they a beginning chapter book? They're way oversized for that genre, and while the vocabulary level matches a chapter book, the limited text and colored illustrations are more in line with an easy reader. Some libraries just give up the fight and put them in graphic novel, or even picture book. I recently moved them from easy reader to the general juvenile fiction area to fully honor what I think is the most classic part of their style - stepping out of the bounds of typical publishing levels and creating a story that's both sweet and tart and utterly unique. The emphasis in Bink and Gollie is on the fun of the story, the suspension of disbelief, the delightful illustrations and not on what reading level or comprehension is appropriate for whoever is lucky enough to light upon the adventures of Bink and Gollie.

Verdict: Wherever you decide to put these stories, they are a delight with a sly sense of humor and a topping of silly. For the right child, these are the stories that will stick with them until they go searching for them again to introduce them to their own child.

ISBN: 9780763634971; Published 2013 by Candlewick; Borrowed from the library show less

Daisy Johnson, dubbed "Weird Sad and Silent" by grade school bullies Sophie and Tad, "invisibilizes" herself at school, skating along on her friendship with the school custodian and the librarian. But when new kid Austin arrives and stands up to Sophie and Tad, he and Daisy become friends. They reveal some of their histories to each other - Daisy's mom's ex-boyfriend was violent; Austin lives with his parents because he can't live with his parents - and accept each other for who they are. show more Daisy relies on counting as a calming method; Austin draws pictures of Montana. Together, they "futurize": Daisy has a plan to earn the trust of local feral cat "Rumble Paws," and they think about making friends with some of the other "weird, sad, and silent" kids that Sophie and Tad pick on.

Quotes

Instead of visualizing, I've decided to call it futurizing. The future has not yet come. But I'm working on it. (3)

We're the ones who spend the whole school day trying to be quiet. Unnoticed. Only when school's over do we go back to our real lives where we can be ourselves. (63)

I don't like being observed. I like observing. (71)

I wish I was the kind of person who never ever got scared.
But maybe that kind of person doesn't exist. (88)

...being invisible isn't all bad. You can be the real you on the inside, and invisible on the outside except to the people who matter. (104)

Everyone deserves to feel safe, don't they? (139)

Before everything that happens to us and all the ways we change because of the things that happen to us, maybe there are other possible versions of ourselves. (161) show less

"Fish know nothing of longing."

This was absolutely delightful - Bink and Gollie are very different best friends who manage to love each other despite their very different approaches. This reminded me of the wit of Eloise, the parentless possibility of Pippi Longstocking, and the confident intelligence of The Exiles. The text and pictures are equally stunning - I could see this as a lap book, or for confident early readers.