One Fine Day

One Fine Day written and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian had an old-school feel to it (which probably stands to reason, considering it was published in the early 70’s). The story is about a fox who steals a few laps of milk from an old woman in order to quench his thirst. He is promptly punished for his theft, and the only way the old woman will sew his tail back on is if he reimburses the milk he stole from her. That proves to be difficult, as the cow that can help him will only do so if he brings her some grass. Then the field says the fox may have some grass if he brings it water. This continues throughout the story for each character the fox encounters. The text reminded me of the old children’s song “There Was an Old Woman Who show more Swallowed a Fly", in the sense that the mini-quests the fox embarks on are repeated to everyone he encounters. show less

It is a tall tale with fantasy about a greedy fox who drinks the milk of a lady and the lady cuts his tail. To get his tail back the fox has to do many things. The book and the pictures go along together well. It has rhythm and it is easy for listeners to follow and read along. The illustrator used acrylic paint and ink to come up with the pictures. You can tell he used a sponge and other tools to make designs with the acrylic paint. This is one of my favorite books and it was my first time reading it in English.

A fox steals some milk, and a woman cuts off his tail and refuses to sew it back on until he gives her back her milk. So the fox sets off to ask a cow for milk, but the cow wants something in exchange....

A fox is wandering through a forest when he gets thirsty. He sees a jug full of milk that belonged to an old women collecting sticks. When the woman discovers that the fox has drank her milk, she becomes angry and cuts off his tail. The illustrations are charcoal and rather simple in design, but the fox still had an aura of desperation throughout the story as he goes from a cow to a field to a stream to a maiden, all the way until he finds a kind miller who gives him the grain that he needs to start the chain reaction of exchanges that will lead to him getting milk so that the women will sow his tail back on. The simplistic style of the drawings helped keep focus on the words, which really started to pile up towards the end as his list show more of exchanges became longer and longer. The minimalistic style of the illustrations prevented distractions while trying to read the story. show less

When I first read this I was kind of confused about the meaning behind the story. What I got out from it was that you should always ask before you take something or use something that isn't yours because there are repercussions for not doing so. But I also learned that there is an importance to sharing without expecting anything else in return. The fox shouldn't have drink milk that wasn't his, but when he was asking for help from others they shouldn't have requested so much out of him. There is a balance between borrowing and sharing.

The very thirsty fox who wanders through the woods, comes upon a jug containing milk. After he consumes what is not his, the woman owning the jug chops off his tail. Feeling vulnerable, he begs her to re-attach and sew the tail back to his body.

She tells him he must first replace the milk. Her request sends the fox on a journey wherein each one he requests, asks for another thing in return. Until, at the end, a wonderful man has sympathy for the fox and his plight. Instead of asking for something in return, he gives more than is requested.

This is a lovely book which enables the reader to remember the sequence of all the fox must accomplish before his wish is granted.

The story and lovely illustrations, pull the reader into the pages.

"One fine day a fox traveled through the great forest. When he reached the other side he was very thirsty." The jaunty red fox stole milk from an old farm woman, lost his tail under the annoyed woman's knife, and spent the day bargaining to get it back. This retelling of a favorite Armenian folktale is a story small children will follow and "read along" with ease.