Wild Fox: A True Story

I am a teacher and when I first saw and read this book I had to have it. It is a wonderful addition to any library. I agree with the above reviewer the pictures are delicate and very heart warming. The story is excellent. I use this book at least once per year with my classes.

The steel-jawed leghold trap has been outlawed in more than 65 nations as cruel and barbaric, but is still legal in most of the U.S. The author wrote this true story of her lengthy encounter with a red fox in Deer Isle off the coast of Maine, partly in hopes that the tale would encourage the banning of such traps in the U.S. It had lost a foot to such a trap. The story first appeared in a shorter version in the August 1988 issue of Cricket. Here, it runs 32 pages, and is accompanied by lavish color sketches of the wild animal, temporarily tamed by both human friend and desperate need. What ultimately became of the fox in this story, which the author called Vicky, we'll never know. But based on her poetic reporting, readers can hope for the best.The author engrosses even the youngest of readers in a way that is, well, foxy. Alyssa A. Lappen

The pictures are beautiful and the story bitter sweet. The trap surviving fox comes to depend on the human and the human on the fox. This book should be in every child's library, and many adults' library , too.