cover image Faraway Fox

Faraway Fox

Jolene Thompson, illus. by Justin K. Thompson. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-544-70711-5

In their first children’s book, the Thompsons sensitively examine the effect of human development on wildlife through the lens of a fox that has been separated from its family. Through the fox’s lonely inner monologue, Jolene Thompson plays directly to readers’ emotions as the fox remembers a bygone life with its family. “As kits, we spent our summer splashing in the stream and catching frogs while our parents went out to hunt,” she writes as the fox peers into a concrete drainage ditch, its reflection the only other fox around. “My sister would always catch the most,” the fox continues. “I wonder where she is now.” In angular digital illustrations with a fittingly somber palette, Justin Thompson creates landscapes that have seen better days: the broken-down cars, endless fences, and desolate strip malls the fox wanders past quietly but plainly suggest that humans aren’t making the most of the land they’ve commandeered. A happy reunion for the fox—thanks to the construction of a highway underpass designed to give animals a safe crossing—feels very well deserved. Ages 4–7. Agent: Kirsten Hall, Catbird Agency. (Sept.)