Fox

This book should come with a warning that it is a story of a devious fox who wishes harm, and an innocent dog with only one eye who comes upon a raven who is missing one wing.

The lovely, kind dog helps the despondent raven who recently lost a wing thus crippling her for life. The text is hand written as though it is a child writing the story. The feel is immediate and captures the reader's attention suddenly with the blocked, larger writing when the writer wants to make a strong point.

The lovely, friendly, kind dog with one eye tells the raven not to despair, for he only has one eye and though he is blind he states, "life is still good." The writing continues and sets the sad despondency of the raven as it is noted "Magpie drags her show more body into the shadow of the rocks, until she feels herself melting into blackness." This deep description sets the tone of just how very sad the raven feels.

Every sentence is needed. The descriptive writing is strong, without a wasted word. The dog is able to help the raven out of despondency and carries her on his back, as they develop an incredibly strong bond, until along creeps the nasty, evil fox with "his haunted eyes and rich red coat," as he lurks in the trees "like a tongue of fire!"
WOW -- this is indeed descriptive writing that any teacher would give the student writer an A.

The sly fox is told to go away because she will lever leave Dog. Later, the magpie is suddenly seen on the back of the fox, and away they go.

And, the ending is left for the reader to discern if the magpie and the kindly dog will ever reunite.

My grand daughter was very bright and intuitive when she was young. With a house filled with books, one of us read to her every night. While we read, she was intelligent enough to fill in the ending before it was known. I think this book might have scared her gentle soul as she was hopeful of a happy ending, but fearful there would not be one.

Highly recommended with a caveat to weigh the strength and intuitiveness of the reader and/or listener experiencing the tale. show less

Beware that this book may not be for everyone, and make sure to read it first before you show it to your sensitive child, but this is a book that is so emotionally charged that it left me speechless.

This simple wilderness story about the friendship between a magpie who can't fly and a one-eyed dog is powerful and touching. The full spread pictures, that are at times warm and at times stark, are edgy and bring out the atmosphere of the desert. The rawness of the pictures and the book design fit the crude story perfectly.

The story begins with a tender description of the dog and the bird's first encounter. The well meaning dog and the beaten bird develop a strong bond, so strong they're in fact one. Until fox comes along. You can tell he show more spells trouble "... with his haunted eyes and rich red coat. He flickers through the trees like a tongue of fire, and Magpie trembles." Yet, Dog, who always sees the good in everything, is welcoming. "He belongs nowhere," [Magpie] says. "he loves no one." But Dog says, "He's all right. Let him be." When fox first tries to come between them, Magpie says, "I will never leave Dog. I am his missing eye and he is my wings." Of course he eventually gives in to the deceptive fox's sweet talk. But then, the story takes a turn that I was not expecting, It's a master stroke! The fox doesn't really want the bird in itself, he's much more devious than that. The last three page spreads are filled with heartbreak, and while beautiful, these pages were tough on both me and my child.

Luckily, the story is open ended, which makes it bearable. My four year old opted for an optimistic ending, while the adult will know that the magpie doesn't really stand a chance. My son typically steers away from ugly things and thus, understandably, did not care to repeat the reading of the story. As for me however, the story dwells with me in a way where I can't get it out of my mind.

I rarely come across something so well crafted, as this story is. But then, on top of all this, while I was expecting simply a story about a fox, I couldn't help but picture the Dog as the embodiment of everything that's good in the world, while the Fox was the essence of evil. And then, we're the Magpie, I guess, wavering between being faithful to our engagements and falling for temptations. What a unique book! show less

Read on May 11, 2013

This is one of those picture books that might have a bigger impact on adults or traumatized a child. Definitely will lead to questions. Why aren't we ever happy with what we have? What about loyalty and friendship? And the ending?! Well, you get to figure that out yourself -- does magpie make it back to dog?

One thing is for sure -- always trust your gut.

Fox, took so many turns on what I was expecting to happen. I believe I was too quick to judge dog and fox. Dog meant good when he was helping out Magpie when she hurt her wings, but at the same time he was kind of holding her back from going back to what she use to be able to do with flying. When Fox finally entered the story, I automatically assumed he would eat both dog and magpie or at the very least magpie. I think it is important to remember the way dog treated fox with respect and trust, because maybe if magpie did the same the story may have ended a bit different.

Read the other reviews. I found this too disturbing to want to think much about, except to say, it really is better for big kids & scholars than for little kids. Pretty much brilliant, though.

Fox is the story of one dog and a bird, they helped each other to complete what each was missing. The bird was hurt from a wing and the dog was blind from one eye, so the bird helped him see and the dog helped the bird go around. However one day a fox appeared trying to convince the bird to go with him, but the bird didn't want to until one day he convinced the bird. The bird was extremely happy because he climbed to the fox's back and he run so fast that he thought was flying. Suddenly, the fox shock off the bird from his back and left him alone in the dessert. This story is very sad in the way that you can't tell why the fox acted the way he did, but this makes the students create their own conclusions about how each of the characters show more would feel during the story. show less

This picture book is beautiful. It teaches the beauty of not giving up. A bird loses hope when he is no longer able to fly, but after meeting a dog who believed in her, she eventually found a reason to continue living, which in the end it is revealed that her motivation to live was because of her beautiful friendship with the dog. This can teach us that there are good reasons to not give up. The sparse text and striking illustrations create a powerful emotional atmosphere that lingers long after reading. It’s a profound story with deep themes, ideal for older children and thoughtful discussions.