Fox in Love

This book is included in a set I have in my classroom. I teach first-year ESL students and they LOVE this book more than any other. As a project I broke up the class into 3 groups who each were responsible for performing one of the stories in the book as a play. They enjoyed every second of it, even as high-schoolers, especially when there weren't enough girls in a group and a boy had to play Raisin, the "pretty white fox." I agree that "Fox Trot" is the sore spot of the book, but when the students brought in music and actually jammed to it, it was hilarious!

Did you know that "Edward Marshall" is also James Marshall? It's too bad this author/illustrator died so young, because his books are so good. When I was a little kid, my mom read me all of the books about Fox and I loved them! This book contains three stories concerning Fox and his girlfriends.

This 48-page book is divided into three episodes dealing with our hero, "Fox." In the first story Fox reluctantly accompanies his sister to the park, when he encounters the pretty white fox "Raisin." The next day, he practically bribes his sister to go with him so that he might meet Raisin again. In "Fox and the Girls," Fox goes to a fair with Rose, then Lola ("On Wednesday Fox and Lola went to the fair."), and finally Raisin, who discovers Fox's previous "dates" ("And on Saturday, Fox went to the fair...all alone."). In the final story, Fox and his sister win second prize in a dance contest ("They did the boogie. They did the stomp."), after Raisin turns him down--perhaps still upset about Fox's fair dates described in the previous story. While the first two stories have some clever humor, the final one is a bit flat. The pictures, while simple and cute (somewhat similar to Sandra Boynton's style), are chiefly limited to green and orange colors. A good book for Fox fans, but I can't imagine most children getting too excited over the stories. However, children may enjoy a "chapter book" geared for the early reader (perhaps grades 1-2). The publisher (Dial) lists the reading level as 1.8; the book is one of several in its the "Easy-to-Read" collection.

My son loves to read all of the Fox-series of books. He is in kindergarten and just past the first level of readers. This is just the right level for him, and he loves to hear about fox's latest goof up. I enjoy them too for their droll wit. For some reason (a combination of being the right level and their funnyness...we can't wait to hear what happens next), he reads these books extremely smoothly.