Not sure how I missed this Children’s book when I was a kid and a mom! Listened to this is audio form in a few hours and enjoyed the characters and story. Obviously dated since it was written in the ‘60s, but I think kids may still enjoy it as a read aloud…then they can have the concept of non-color TVs and reruns explained to them

This was a great winter day's read, so well written, with characters I could believe in and care about and with the creative, funny thinking of Tom and his love for the fox he discovers driving it forward.
Excerpts proving excellent writing:


The rest of the way I just sat in the backseat with my eyes closed. I started thinking about a movie I saw once where some farm people send to the orphanage for a boy, because they wanted someone to help with the hard work on the farm. Instead of the boy, the orphanage sent them a puny girl, and there was tremendous disappointment. I thought now that perhaps Aunt Milly and uncle Fred were letting me come because they thought I was a great athlete with muscles like potatoes who could toss hay into the loft without spilling a straw. They would be very excited, of course, at the thought of this wonderful summer helper, and as our car drove up, they would be standing in the yard saying things like "now we have someone to break the wild horses for us," and "now we have someone to get the boulders out of the North forty." Then I would step out and they would cry, "but where's the BIG boy? And I would say, "I'm the only boy there is." They would try to hide their disappointment, but finally aunt Millie would start crying and run into the house.

(after hearing a story that ended with the baby foxes being blown up by dynamite) "Oh." It was one of those stories that you're sorry afterward that you made somebody tell you.

(aunt Millie offers him to take any books from the cupboard.) She opens the little glass doors so I could see the books and they were all the kind I didn't like. The way I like to get a book with this: I would go over to Petie's and he would be sitting on the porch reading. He would be so interested in the book that he wouldn't even look up to see who I was. "What are you reading, Petie? He would lift the book so I could see the title and it would be something like Mystery of the Deep. "Can I read it when you're through?" He would not. "How much more you got?" Still without missing a word, he would flip the remaining pages. "Well, hurry up, will you?"
He would nod again, but petie Burkis had never hurrie through a book in his life. So I would wait. And I would wait. And wait. And finally, when I was ready to go out and get the book out of the library myself, then he would come over and give it to me. I couldn't get it open fast enough and I would start reading on my way into the house and the book would start like, "the crack in the Earth appeared during the night and when the people of Pittsburgh awoke,it was there, and deep down in the crack the people could see something moving."
That was the way I likeD to get a book. I did not like to open a bookcase, especially with someone watching, and know that I had to take one, HAD to.

I cannot exactly explain my fascination with this fox. It was as if I had just learned a new and exciting game that I wanted to play more than anything else in the world. It was like when Petie Burkis first learned to play Monopoly, and that was all he wanted to do – – just play Monopoly. One time he followed me around the yard on his knees, begging me to play with him. And one time he made his sister play with him and he did everything for her – – collected her money, moved her piece, paid her rent. All she did was sit there reading a magazine.
That's the way I felt about this fox.

The next time I saw the fox, it was a marvelous accident. These don't happen very often in real life, but they do happen, and that's what this was. Like the time Petie and I were walking down the alley behind his house and there, on top of this lady's garbage, we saw a mayonnaise jar full of marbles – not just cats Eye marbles but all different kinds, kinds I had never seen before. Petie and I turned them all out on the grass and first Petie chose one and then I chose one until they were all gone. And both of us right now, today, have every single one of those marbles.
This was an even better accident.

Suddenly as we walked, I started thinking of this one word --Tacooma... The counselors had told us the first night we were there, having something called opening powwow, that Tacooma was an Indian word that meant "help me, brother," and they told us that it was a rule – an iron clad, never to be broken rule – that if anyone ever came up to you, clasped your wrist "where the blood flows," and said Tacooma!" you would have to help him. No matter what he wanted, you would HAVE to help him. ... tonight, though, I thought that there should be a worldwide word like Tacooma and you could use this word maybe three times in your whole life, and when you did use it, even a perfect stranger would have to help you, because even a perfect stranger would know that you would never, ever use one of your Tacooma's unless it was a matter of vital importance. I thought how nice it would be right now if I could turn to uncle Fred, classed my hand around his they carry rest, feel the blood pounding there, and say, "uncle Fred?" Something in my voice because I'm to stop and look down at me. "Uncle Fred, don't harm that fox." He would support her, "but that Fox is making off with Millie's birds. You saw how upset she was at supper. She--". "Uncle Fred," I would interrupt. "Tacooma!" He would pause and then say in the quietest voice, "the fox is safe. She will never be harmed here. I will explain it to Millie."

Although this book was aimed at children it was a lovely read which teaches the value and kindness of looking after animals

A simple, rather beautiful, story

A lovely little book. I'm not gonna lie, I was hoping it was about a magical fox but it's a pleasant read regardless.
Great for kids.

This is a sweet, simple, easy to read book. I loved that it really felt as though a child was telling the story, with his random digressions and explanations. I found that I loved these. An interesting story.

The style of this book crept up on me. There is an interweaving of narrative with the use of headlines as Tom tries to process and reflect on what is happening to him on the farm, far away from his best friend who would turn anything into a newspaper story. The quiet, slightly awkward ten year old boy at the start of the book continued to be recognisably himself but at the same time, in the fox, he encountered something totally new and different and was able to act in a way that would have been unimaginable at the start of the story.

It has been a very long time since I first read this book. I'm not sure what made it pop into my head, but I am glad it did. Right from the beginning I was hooked. What a lead!

Sometimes at night when the read is beating against the windows of my room, I think about that summer on the farm. It has been finve years, but when I close my eyes I am once again y the creek watching the black fox come leaping over the green, green grass. She is as light and free as the wind, exactly as she was the first time I saw her. .

Or sometimes it is that last terrible night, and I am standing beneath the oak tree with the rain beating against me. The lightning flashes, the world is turned white for a moment, and I see everything as it was - the broken lock, the empty cage, the small tracks disappearing in the rain. Then it seems to me that I can hear, as plainly as I heard it that August night, above the rain, beyond the years, the high, clear bark of the midnight fox.

I was draw through the pages right to the end wondering how the fox and the farm and the forest would mix - they don't always and this book is no exception. I hope all intermediate and middle grade readers find it. Every word is a perfect choice. It's one of those books - sort of sparkles.

Great read. Excellent children's book for looking at new experiences and being open to new things. Interesting discussions to be had about hunting etc also.

I really liked this book. I think the connection between the fox and the children told a lovely story. I also think it was great because children can relate to what they do over the summer to this story. I think this would be great to read to a key stage 2 class as it isn't too long so it wouldn't stop the children from being engaged. Also, I think there is so much you can do with it in terms of English lessons. Overall, the book was very catching as it wasn't predictable throughout.

3+

Not much action, but lots of insight into the quiet 9-year-old only child who seems to explore mainly with his eyes. His inner life is more animated than his real life. I generally like nature stories, but this was just okay.