read for school

This was a delightful book! Great for pre-teen readers. A good book for boys who are reluctant readers. Just enough suspense to keep them oInterested.

Over all, it is a good book, though it does have a couple of flaws. One is that the grammer is off in places (Say a poem instead of read a poem or recite a poem...) There were times in the book when I didn't like the girl Hazeline - too focused on being fat and she seemed to accept the fur industry too well, but I suppose, because it was published in the late sixites you would expect that. Because we have had our own fox families I do find that the book sums up the feelings I have about those pretty well when you think that someone wants to harm them or that something has happened to them, which I suppose balences out the negativity towards foxes in the book. What I would like to know (as the book is set in America) is the species of the fox - is it a red, a kit, swift or even grey fox?

The Midnight Fox is a lovely and simple story about nine-year-old Tom whose parents have decided to go on a biking tour of Europe. Much to Tom's dismay, they decide to send him to his aunt and uncle's farm for their two month vacation. While at the farm, Tom stumbles upon a black fox who lives nearby, and spends the summer observing the animal.

For a child used to exciting video games and the flashy images on a television screen, this story may be a bit slow-paced; but it is beautifully written! Byars, author of well-known children's books like Summer of the Swans and The Cybil War, peels back layers of depth as she explores Tom's unexpected feelings about an unusual fox, while subtly revealing the character of Tom to be a sensitive and intelligent young man. (For all you teacher friends out there- this book would be fabulous for teaching character development!) Byars' unexpected bits of pre-teen humor (the doll's head that Tom and his friend silently hide in one another's rooms) add the perfect flavor of amusement to an otherwise melancholic story. The culmination of Tom's summer is a tense, edge-of-your-seat turning point for his character that builds almost introspectively as you read.

Interestingly, this is Betsy Byars favorite of her own novels and I can tell why.

Beautiful story! I read it on the plane and cried a lot, fearing for the fate of the foxes. Hope nobody noticed…

A charming coming of age story, told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy living on a farm for the summer.

Really a fantastic book (I read it out loud to my almost 8 year old son). But the main character's cousin is described as being overweight and loves to eat. Her boyfriend tells her he won't marry her unless she loses 20 pounds. It's not a prominent part of the story, so it's easy to skip or rephrase. You can also choose to read it, then talk about it.

Other than that, it's a very moving story!

A pleasant book which I enjoyed reading. Good author techniques which I could share with my class. Not the ending I was expecting but I didn’t finish feeling disappointed. I would read again but I’d leave it a while.

The last quarter of the book was the best. I did not find it compelling for the first 3/4 of it, but it's short and resolves nicely.

Read this prior to joining Goodreads so I needed to read it again for last year's Battle of the Books. Yes, I'm behind. Can't go wrong with Betsy Byars and the story is just perfect for a fifth grade boy.

This book was used as a “Literature Circle” book with a group of students. All 3 of the students in this group as well as myself enjoyed this book. Each meeting all 3 of the students had great enthusiasm when talking about this story.

This would be a great story time book or book club book for 3-4th graders. Every character is colorful and believable.