Editorial Content for Maybe a Fox
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In MAYBE A FOX, award-winning authors Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee collaborate on a new novel about love, loss, and the powerful connections between humans and the natural world.
Forget the Year of the Monkey --- in children’s books, at least, 2016 is shaping up to be the Year of the Fox. First there was Sara Pennypacker’s exquisite novel PAX, about the profound connection between a boy and his pet fox during a time of war. Now, award-winning authors Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee also use foxes to explore the connections between humans and the natural world, in MAYBE A FOX.
Appelt and McGhee write well together, melding their styles into a cohesive whole that is ripe for reflection and discussion and that will have young readers looking at wild animals with fresh eyes.
Unlike her older sister Sylvie, Jules barely remembers their mom, who died of an undiagnosed heart condition when the girls were quite young. All she remembers was Sylvie running as fast as she could to find help --- but in the end not running fast enough. Since their mother’s death, their small, grieving family has relied on each other for strength and comfort --- but when tragedy strikes again, Jules is not sure how she can go on, this time possibly without her sister.
Meanwhile, the girls’ neighbor and best friend, Sam, is also coping with loss. His older brother Elk has come back from fighting in Afghanistan --- but Elk’s best friend Zeke wasn’t so lucky. Now Elk is different, not the same big brother Sam remembers. He’s preoccupied with his memories of war and his grief over losing his best friend.
For as long as they can remember, Sam, Sylvie, and Jules have created “wish rocks,” writing wishes on distinctive stones and then tossing them into “the slip,” the fast-moving creek and underground river that runs through their property in rural Vermont. Track star Sylvie always wishes to run fast, Sam always wishes to see an extremely rare catamount. As for Sylvie, her wishes never seem important enough --- until her ultimate wish becomes not only essential, but also impossible.
Meanwhile, in the woods near Jules’s home, a baby fox is born. Senna’s older brother would be happy to spend all his time with their small family in their cozy underground den; her younger brother wants nothing more than to hunt and explore. As for Senna, she finds herself curiously drawn to humans, and to one human in particular --- Jules. Why is there this connection between the young human and the young fox? How can they help one another?
For a relatively short novel written in clear, straightforward language, MAYBE A FOX brings up a lot of pretty complex ideas. Jules and Senna’s story deals frankly with loss and grief, with war and its aftermath, with the sometimes tense relationship between humans and their environment. It doesn’t pull any punches, including an ending that will be hard for readers who are particularly tender-hearted toward animals. Appelt and McGhee write well together, melding their styles into a cohesive whole that is ripe for reflection and discussion and that will have young readers looking at wild animals with fresh eyes.
Teaser
Sylvie and Jules, Jules and Sylvie. Better than just sisters, better than best friends, they’d be identical twins if only they’d been born in the same year. And if only Sylvie wasn’t such a fast runner. But Sylvie is too fast, and when she runs to the river they’re not supposed to go anywhere near to throw a wish rock just before the school bus comes on a snowy morning, she runs so fast that no one sees what happens…and no one ever sees her again. Jules is devastated, but she refuses to believe what all the others believe, that, like their mother, her sister is gone forever. At the very same time, in the shadow world, a shadow fox is born --- half of the spirit world, half of the animal world. She too is fast and she senses danger.
Promo
Sylvie and Jules, Jules and Sylvie. Better than just sisters, better than best friends, they’d be identical twins if only they’d been born in the same year. And if only Sylvie wasn’t such a fast runner. But Sylvie is too fast, and when she runs to the river they’re not supposed to go anywhere near to throw a wish rock just before the school bus comes on a snowy morning, she runs so fast that no one sees what happens…and no one ever sees her again. Jules is devastated, but she refuses to believe what all the others believe, that, like their mother, her sister is gone forever. At the very same time, in the shadow world, a shadow fox is born --- half of the spirit world, half of the animal world. She too is fast and she senses danger.
About the Book
Worlds collide in a spectacular way when Newbery and National Book Award finalist Kathi Appelt and Pulitzer Prize nominee and #1 New York Times bestseller Alison McGhee team up to create a fantastical, heartbreaking and gorgeous tale about two sisters, a fox cub, and what happens when one of the sisters disappears forever.
Sylvie and Jules, Jules and Sylvie. Better than just sisters, better than best friends, they’d be identical twins if only they’d been born in the same year. And if only Sylvie wasn’t such a fast --- faster than fast --- runner. But Sylvie is too fast, and when she runs to the river they’re not supposed to go anywhere near to throw a wish rock just before the school bus comes on a snowy morning, she runs so fast that no one sees what happens…and no one ever sees her again. Jules is devastated, but she refuses to believe what all the others believe, that --- like their mother --- her sister is gone forever.
At the very same time, in the shadow world, a shadow fox is born --- half of the spirit world, half of the animal world. She too is fast --- faster than fast --- and she senses danger. She’s too young to know exactly what she senses, but she knows something is very wrong. And when Jules believes one last wish rock for Sylvie needs to be thrown into the river, the human and shadow worlds collide.
Writing in alternate voices --- one Jules’s, the other the fox’s --- Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee tell the searingly beautiful tale of one small family’s moment of heartbreak, a moment that unfolds into one that is epic, mythic, shimmering, and most of all, hopeful.
