The Old Country

This fable isn't just about a girl and a fox who switch bodies. it about so much more. It's about the magic in our world, and how thing like war and lies can kill the magic and twist our world out of shape. It's about being comfortable with who you are and that it's okay to become someone else, or in other words, to evolve and grow up.

There's a nostalgic feel and innocence to this story that is odd. It's modern yet old-fashioned at the same time. While there are kings, queen, and peasants, wars are fought with tanks and machine guns. It's such a cool aspect. And this idea is original, even though we can see element from classic fables and fairy-tales.

I enjoyed every aspect of this novel. How different and ironic it could be, the show more necessities for fair trials, the different opinions. It's truly a horrifying and charming read for young ones. show less

The Old Country is a charming, poetic fable about a young girl who switches bodies with a sly fox. The girl, Gisella, must not only navigate a world new to her, with animals and magical creatures, but also must save her family from the depredations of a mad, power-hungry despot. The story has a very lyric quality, a very "old fashioned" fairy tale sensibility; yet it also speaks clearly to the modern world--there are lessons to be learned about respecting the natural world, as well as the follies of war and greed. A lovely little book that I am pleased to have read.

Long ago, in a land simply called the Old Country, a young girl went after the fox that was stealing her family's chickens. She found herself deep in the forest, in a strangely magical place where the animals could talk. Although her grandmother had warned her never to look long into the eyes of a fox, she did- and found herself transformed into the fox's body, while the beast ran off with hers. Of course she set off at once to get her own shape back, but it's a hard task. Her country is being ravaged by war, and her own family uprooted by the violence and suspicion. Her only hope is the assistance of a silly chicken, her pet cat who wants to be a lawyer, a bear that escaped from a circus and a shape-shifting forest sprite. Together show more they must navigate the horrors of war while seeking to find her family and convince the fox to trade places once again. By the end of the story, experiencing life in the fox's body has profoundly affected the girl, and she is surprised to find that choices she once thought were clear are now difficult to make. This book is a wonderful meld of fairy tale and fantasy elements, a story of wartime survival and one little girl's search for herself. It's a bit grim at times, but a lively and captivating tale.

from the DogEar Diary show less

Interesting. Weird, but interesting. It's almost fairy-tale-ish, but not quite - all the events are straight from one fairy tale or another, but the consequences are quite realistic. A very strange story! I'm glad I read it, though I'm not sure I'll ever reread it.

I loved most of it, including most of the ending, but the book was one of those where I want to shake the author and ask, “Why did you do it this way?” A grandmother tells her granddaughter the story of her adventures as a fox. Did she become a fox by changing places with one, or was she the fox to begin with??? All through the story there are tantalizing hints of a deep moral discussion about war and meat eating, which I felt deserved more development.

This does a good job of maintaining the mystique necessary for a fairy-tale novella to work, with lovely writing and just the right amount of whimsy. The audiobook narrator’s creative voicing adds to the charm.

first line: "Great-Grandmother Gisella was from the Old Country, a country whose name and borders have changed so many times that no one knows anymore what it had been called originally."

A modern fairy tale with modern sensibilities, The Old Country still manages to convey an otherworldly sense of magical possibility. Themes of hope, desire, and personal consequences are not lost, even among larger themes of war and violence.