The Tale Of Tricky Fox - Hardcover

Aylesworth, Jim; McClintock, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0439095433 ISBN 13: 9780439095433

Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2001

Synopsis

A hilarious tale about a tricky fox who can outsmart any human except a teacher! "Cleverly paced repetition and an unexpected ending make this droll caper a winning choice." - Publishers Weekly, starred review "McClintock's lively line gets the tale's mischief just right.her wily Fox even winks conspiratorially at the reader." - The Horn Book, starred review

About this title

About the Author

All Jim Aylesworth's stories for young children are filled with rhythm and read-out-loud sound. No surprise. Jim taught first grade for 25 years, and read aloud to his students countless times. He knows what they like to hear - piercing hog calls, nonsensical rhymes, or the shriek of a train cutting through the night. "Writing children's books is my way of being the teacher beyond the walls of my classroom for children that I may never know," Aylesworth says. But the rapt attention of his former students remains his inspiration. Jim Aylesworth lives in Chicago with his wife, Donna. For more information about Jim Aylesworth, visit:
ayles.com and scholastic.com/tradebooks. Barbara McClintock is a distinguished illustrator and collaborator with Jim Aylesworth who has three times had her works named The New York Times Best Illustrated. She began drawing as a very young child and was later encouraged by the author/illustrator Maurice Sendak. "He told me how to put together a dummy book and suggested I move to New York" - so she did. McClintock lives in Connecticut. She's had her work exhibited at several art galleries. For more information about Barbara McClintock, visit: scholastic.com/tradebooks

Reviews

PreS-Gr 2-As they did in The Gingerbread Man (Scholastic, 1998), Aylesworth and McClintock have teamed up again, this time to create the wiliest of creatures in this version of "The Travels of a Fox." Acting on a bet he makes with Brother Fox, Tricky Fox vows to bring home a pig rather than a chicken for supper. He begs his way into homes, carrying a bag. When he goes to sleep, he tells the host to keep an eye on his bag, but not to look inside it. Knowing human nature, he figures that the homeowner will take a peek. During the night, he disposes of the contents of the bag and in the morning claims that something better was stolen. Of course, his hostess is embarrassed that this has happened in her own home and replaces whatever the fox claimed was in his sack. He pulls this con on several unsuspecting women until he meets up with a teacher, who sees through the ruse and puts her ferocious bulldog in his sack. What a surprise both Tricky and Brother Fox get when they open the bag at home. The romping good humor of the story is carried by the old-fashioned illustrations in sepia tones. Their size diversity-from small insets to full-page spread-moves the story to its conclusion. The tale is told by the teacher who finally unmasks the rascal. The expressions on Tricky and his unsuspecting victims are priceless.-Barbara Buckley, Rockville Centre Public Library, NY

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The clever collaborators behind The Gingerbread Man and Aunt Pitty Patty's Piggy offer another buoyant retelling in this tale within a tale. A teacher from yesteryear gathers her students around her to read to them a book--which keen-eyed kids will recognize as the book in their own hands. It introduces Tricky Fox who brags to his brother that "I'm going to get me a fat pig!" Insisting that a fox could not possible carry such a critter, Brother Fox replies, "I'll eat my hat if you do!" The title character grows positively--and contagiously--gleeful as he tricks one and then another woman, so that it seems he just may accomplish his mission. Yet the next would-be victim of his pranks is a teacher (in fact, the very one seen on the opening page), and "Tricky Fox didn't know that teachers are not so easy to fool as regular humans are." Rendered in watercolor, black ink and gouache, McClintock's endearingly antique pictures add to the merriment, especially when the conniving fox winks at readers, drawing them into his joke. Cleverly paced repetition and an unexpected ending make this droll caper a winning choice. Ages 3-6.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Ages 3-7. In the same format and style as their Gingerbread Man (1998) and Aunt Pitty Patty's Piggy (1999), Aylesworth and McClintock offer another nostalgic folktale that's perfect for read-alouds. Bored with chickens, Tricky Fox boasts that he can steal a pig. "I'll eat my hat if you do!" says his brother, and the bet is on. Playing on humans' natural curiosity, the clever fox tricks two elderly neighbors into filling his sack with treats, but a third woman, a teacher, outwits Fox by putting a bulldog in his sack.. Unaware, Fox returns triumphantly with his bulging sack, and Brother eats his hat, literally, before the ferocious pup leaps out. The folly of the well-dressed, rascally animals and their human counterparts, rendered in McClintock's signature style (reminiscent of fine, nineteenth-century illustrations) inspires giggles. Aylesworth's words, in bouncy rhythms and nursery rhymes, will get kids to cheer along with the story. An infectious choice for fans of the team's previous titles. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Scholastic Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0439095433
• ISBN 13: 9780439095433
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32