Faraway Fox (review #2), written by Jolene Thompson, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Student Reviewer: Peter S.
Summary: A young fox is separated from his family and is lost in a city. He reminisces about his experiences and fun times with his family members. The pages portray loneliness and solitude as the fox travels from place to place surrounded by no one. After searching the city for his family, he stumbles across humans working on a project. A sign reads “Future Site Of Highway Wildlife Underpass,” which is what the humans are working on. He travels through the underpass they created safely and reunites with his family in the forest happily.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book can be used to teach children about gratitude and to not take things for granted. The concept of losing everything you previously enjoyed or needed, even though you didn’t acknowledge it when you had it, is something that most children would not understand. Personally, I know I take a lot of things for granted and am trying to appreciate what I have more. Children usually don’t have a sense of their surroundings and what they have, they only know what they want. Although the book is to spread awareness about wildlife in urban or human civilization, the message I got from this is to not take things for granted. As the fox was alone and lost, he begins to think about all of the fun he had with his sister, brother, mother, and father, and misses them. In a sense, this story is actually very sad until the last page when he gets reunited. The color choice throughout the book is well done, with the muted tones helping to portray the sense of loneliness. The illustrations are fun and pretty to look at and the art style is realistic and unique. Overall, this book is a great, short read for young kids to not only teach about gratitude but about the wilderness and animals as we interact with them. I think young readers would really like the fox character.