Red Fox Running - Hardcover

Bunting, Eve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0395589193 ISBN 13: 9780395589199

Publisher: Clarion Books, 1993

Synopsis

A lyrical text and remarkable full-page and double-page paintings follow a red fox as he sets out at the end of a winter day to hunt for food for his mate and cubs. By the author of Someday a Tree.

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Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3-Bunting draws readers into the winter world of a red fox. In a simple, rhyming text-eight short lines per page-its quest for food unfolds. Suspense builds as it runs through the snow encountering other woodland creatures (will one become its prey?). As night falls, the animal wearies and becomes vulnerable itself. Finally, a meal is captured-details of the kill are discreetly omitted from both text and illustrations-and the creature staggers home with its "prize" to a cozy den and hungry cubs. The serious topic brings to mind a documentary, but the verse and fine watercolor paintings heighten its drama. Sweeping landscapes dominated by snowy ground, bleak skies, and rich evergreens appear regularly on double-page spreads that alternate comfortably with the sedately framed white pages of measured text. Compelling closeups of the wildlife are appropriately naturalistic and marvelously textured. Overall, Bunting provides an unromanticized glimpse of survival in the wild. Her lyrical language and Minor's large-format art render this an ideal choice to read aloud or independently.
Valerie Lennox, Jacksonville Public Library, FL
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bunting's rhymes freeze-frame moments of a red fox's winter day. The urgent tempo of the narrative echoes the animal's growing hunger: "Red fox running, / Running through the snow, / White sky above / And white earth below. / . . . / Hunger runs beside you / On this cold and frozen day." Elegant metaphors (the silence of an eagle's shadow, the loneliness of being left behind by migrating cranes) convey the emptiness within the starving fox. But "red fox, weary" turns to "red fox, joyous" when he sniffs out prey and returns to feed his family. The book hints at the cost of the hunt--"Your paws are raw and bleeding, / Your body's sore and spent"--but identifies the unlucky victim only in the illustrations, as a vague furriness. Facing each page of verse is a full-page painting; alternating with these are textless full-spread depictions of the fox's outdoor world. Minor's grainy paintings combine down-to-earth representations with an ethereal use of lighting. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ages 4-8. Imagine the folk song "The Fox Went out on a Chilly Night" interpreted in slower tempo by a classically trained cellist, and you'll come close to the feeling here. Bunting's verse tells of a hungry fox who hunts through a winter's day and night until he kills a bobcat to bring home to his family. As naturalistic and delicate as the text, Minor's full-color artwork captures with precision the sights of the rural landscape: stubble rising in rows from frozen fields, moon shadows cast by winter trees on snowy ground. The animal characters give the scenes interest, but without the sentimentality often associated with picture-book depictions of wildlife. From the typography to the picture borders to the shadowy figure of a fox that appears on each page of text, the design elements here show thoughtful attention to detail. A distinguished choice for winter story hours. Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0395589193
• ISBN 13: 9780395589199
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Minor Wendell
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32