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Enchanted Lion's Stories Without Words
Fox's Garden
Finement réalisé en papier découpé, ce petit bijou, destiné aux plus jeunes, émerveillera aussi les yeux dadultes ! Par une froide nuit dhiver, une renarde cherche désespérément un abri pour mettre au monde ses petits Les premiers flocons font leur apparition. Chassé tour à tour par les habitants du village, lanimal sauvage finit par se réfugier dans une serre, au fond dun jardin Depuis la fenêtre de sa chambre, un petit garçon laperçoit et décide de lui apporter son aide. Trouvera-t-elle une idée singulière pour le remercier ? Cette histoire sans textes, source de belles valeurs - générosité, entraide, échange - propose une lecture visuelle incitant à une exploration différente. Teintées de magie et de féérie, les illustrations prennent vie, tout en délicatesse, et saniment au fil des pages. De lémotion pure.
24 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 251 reviews
October 2, 2014
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREG!!!!!
a book with no words, but plenty of foxen!
this is a very small and simple story about the gratitude of foxen; in this case a mama foxen forced to squat in a greenhouse during the dead of winter with her cublets. and everyone is MEAN to her and won't give her any tasty treats until one little boy brings her a basket of food and she pays him back in flowers. which i guess is what little boys want. and, honestly, i think the greenhouse is actually the greenhouse behind the house where the kid lives, so she's giving him his own flowers as a gratitude-present, which is rude. "here ya go, kid - i killed these flowers for you. hope you weren't planning on selling them, cuz now they're totally dead. thanks for the vittles!" is what i imagine the fox is saying, because there are - again - no words. but this book is not really about the story for me; it's for the lovely lovely artwork:
a very sweet, very lovely little book. remember kids - do favors for ALL the woodland creatures and you might get your own stuff as a reward! or a dead bird, if you do something nice for a cat.
come to my blog!
a book with no words, but plenty of foxen!
this is a very small and simple story about the gratitude of foxen; in this case a mama foxen forced to squat in a greenhouse during the dead of winter with her cublets. and everyone is MEAN to her and won't give her any tasty treats until one little boy brings her a basket of food and she pays him back in flowers. which i guess is what little boys want. and, honestly, i think the greenhouse is actually the greenhouse behind the house where the kid lives, so she's giving him his own flowers as a gratitude-present, which is rude. "here ya go, kid - i killed these flowers for you. hope you weren't planning on selling them, cuz now they're totally dead. thanks for the vittles!" is what i imagine the fox is saying, because there are - again - no words. but this book is not really about the story for me; it's for the lovely lovely artwork:
a very sweet, very lovely little book. remember kids - do favors for ALL the woodland creatures and you might get your own stuff as a reward! or a dead bird, if you do something nice for a cat.
come to my blog!
March 14, 2018
A fox needs somewhere to stay and a little boy is rewarded for helping her. Lovely images, 3D paper cut-outs make the scenes, lovely use of shadow and light. One downside, the illustrations are on a double page spread which means several times the main feature of the illustration is obscured by the fold in the book, as the copy we read was a hardback it meant the lovely fox was only visible by tail and face a couple of times.
September 23, 2014
Have you ever read a picture book multiple times, enjoying it with each and every read, and then find later that it was wordless . . . and you didn’t even notice? Now THAT is the mark of an effective title. The publisher Enchanted Lion Books prides itself on its “Stories Without Words” series, and deservedly so. They import wordless picture books from abroad, format them into these long, slender books, and subsequently prove to the world that good storytelling is universal. It goes beyond language. The latest in this long line of beauties is, to my mind, the most impressive offering to date. Fox’s Garden by author Princesse Camcam (who edges out Sara Pennypacker, Mary Quattlebaum, and Robert Quackenbush in the Best Children’s Author’s Name contest) is ostensibly a very simple story about kindness and unexpected rewards. Combined with remarkable cut paper scenes that are lit and photographed in an eerie, wonderful way, this is a book that manages to simultaneously convey the joy that comes after a simple act of kindness as well as the feel and look of winter, night and day.
On a cold and windy night, when the snow blows in high drifts, a single fox plunges onward. When a warm, inviting village appears in a valley she makes her way there. However, once there she is summarily rejected by the hostile townspeople, at last taking refuge in a small greenhouse. A small boy spots the fox’s presence and goes to offer her some food. When he finds her, he sees that she is not alone. Newborn kits suckle, so he leaves the edibles at a safe distance and goes inside to bed. In the early morn the fox and her brood prepare to leave but before doing so they leap through the boy’s window, planting flowers in his floor so that he wakes up to a wonder of blossoms of his very own.
The fact of the matter is that I’ve seen cut paper work in picture books before, whether it’s the scale models in books like Cynthia von Buhler’s But Who Will Bell the Cats? or the distinctive Lauren Child style of The Princess and the Pea. But books of that sort are part cut paper and part dollhouse, to a certain extent, since they utilize models. Titles that consist of cut paper and lighting alone are rarities. Even as I write this it sounds like such a technique would be some fancy designer’s dream and not something appealing to kids. Yet what makes Camcam’s style so appealing is that it combines not just technical prowess but also good old-fashioned storytelling. The glow that emanates from behind some of the homes in the snowy winter village looks infinitely appealing. You can practically feel the heat that would strike you as you entered through one of those doorways. Even more impressive to me, however, was the artist’s ability to capture winter daytime cloudy light. You know that light I’m talking about. When snow has blanketed the earth and the white/gray clouds above give off this particular winter gleam. I’m used to complimenting illustrators on how well they portray winter light in paint. I’m less accustomed to praising that same technique in sliced up paper.
The shape of the book itself is an interesting choice as well. The publisher Enchanted Lion specializes in these long thin books, so I wasn’t quite sure if the book originally published (under the name “Une rencontre”) in the same format. To my mind it feels as though it was always intended to look this way. Just watching where the gutter between the two pages falls is an interesting exercise in and of itself. The first two-page spread shows the fox struggling, belly low, through snowdrifts. She’s on the right-hand page, the desolate woods behind her. When she spots the village she is on the left page and the town looks warm and inviting on the opposite side. Distant, because of the nature of the layout, but comforting. Interestingly the only time the two pages show two different scenes is when you see people kicking and yelling at the fox. In contrast to the rest of the book the two different images make everything feel tense and angry. Landscapes are calming. From there on in everything is a two-page spread, sometimes presenting a close-up shot (there is an amazing image of the happy fox in the foreground on the left page, while the boy is in the distant doorway of the greenhouse on the right) and sometimes an image of distance, as with the final shot.
It isn’t just the art that had me fail to recognize that the book was wordless. Camcam’s vixen seems to tell whole stories with just a glance here and there. She’s a proud animal. You understand that even as she’s kicked and cursed she’s retaining her dignity. The boy’s act of kindness may be given because he sees a creature in need, but it seems as though it’s just as likely that he’s helping her because she is worth worshipping anear. And though she and her brood do something particularly un-foxlike near the end she is, for the most part, not anthropomorphized. The storytelling sounds so oddly trite when I summarize the book, but it doesn’t feel trite in the least. You could easily see this book adapted into a ballet or similar wordless format. It’s a naturally beautiful tale.
Let’s examine that word for a second. Beautiful. I don’t use it enough when I’m describing picture books. It’s not the kind of word you should bandy about for no reason. If I called every other book “beautiful” it would diminish the importance of the word and I couldn’t use it when something as truly stunning as this. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t feel like anything else you’ve seen or read. True and lovely and entirely unique. A book to borrow and a book to own.
For ages 3-6.
On a cold and windy night, when the snow blows in high drifts, a single fox plunges onward. When a warm, inviting village appears in a valley she makes her way there. However, once there she is summarily rejected by the hostile townspeople, at last taking refuge in a small greenhouse. A small boy spots the fox’s presence and goes to offer her some food. When he finds her, he sees that she is not alone. Newborn kits suckle, so he leaves the edibles at a safe distance and goes inside to bed. In the early morn the fox and her brood prepare to leave but before doing so they leap through the boy’s window, planting flowers in his floor so that he wakes up to a wonder of blossoms of his very own.
The fact of the matter is that I’ve seen cut paper work in picture books before, whether it’s the scale models in books like Cynthia von Buhler’s But Who Will Bell the Cats? or the distinctive Lauren Child style of The Princess and the Pea. But books of that sort are part cut paper and part dollhouse, to a certain extent, since they utilize models. Titles that consist of cut paper and lighting alone are rarities. Even as I write this it sounds like such a technique would be some fancy designer’s dream and not something appealing to kids. Yet what makes Camcam’s style so appealing is that it combines not just technical prowess but also good old-fashioned storytelling. The glow that emanates from behind some of the homes in the snowy winter village looks infinitely appealing. You can practically feel the heat that would strike you as you entered through one of those doorways. Even more impressive to me, however, was the artist’s ability to capture winter daytime cloudy light. You know that light I’m talking about. When snow has blanketed the earth and the white/gray clouds above give off this particular winter gleam. I’m used to complimenting illustrators on how well they portray winter light in paint. I’m less accustomed to praising that same technique in sliced up paper.
The shape of the book itself is an interesting choice as well. The publisher Enchanted Lion specializes in these long thin books, so I wasn’t quite sure if the book originally published (under the name “Une rencontre”) in the same format. To my mind it feels as though it was always intended to look this way. Just watching where the gutter between the two pages falls is an interesting exercise in and of itself. The first two-page spread shows the fox struggling, belly low, through snowdrifts. She’s on the right-hand page, the desolate woods behind her. When she spots the village she is on the left page and the town looks warm and inviting on the opposite side. Distant, because of the nature of the layout, but comforting. Interestingly the only time the two pages show two different scenes is when you see people kicking and yelling at the fox. In contrast to the rest of the book the two different images make everything feel tense and angry. Landscapes are calming. From there on in everything is a two-page spread, sometimes presenting a close-up shot (there is an amazing image of the happy fox in the foreground on the left page, while the boy is in the distant doorway of the greenhouse on the right) and sometimes an image of distance, as with the final shot.
It isn’t just the art that had me fail to recognize that the book was wordless. Camcam’s vixen seems to tell whole stories with just a glance here and there. She’s a proud animal. You understand that even as she’s kicked and cursed she’s retaining her dignity. The boy’s act of kindness may be given because he sees a creature in need, but it seems as though it’s just as likely that he’s helping her because she is worth worshipping anear. And though she and her brood do something particularly un-foxlike near the end she is, for the most part, not anthropomorphized. The storytelling sounds so oddly trite when I summarize the book, but it doesn’t feel trite in the least. You could easily see this book adapted into a ballet or similar wordless format. It’s a naturally beautiful tale.
Let’s examine that word for a second. Beautiful. I don’t use it enough when I’m describing picture books. It’s not the kind of word you should bandy about for no reason. If I called every other book “beautiful” it would diminish the importance of the word and I couldn’t use it when something as truly stunning as this. It’s the kind of book that doesn’t feel like anything else you’ve seen or read. True and lovely and entirely unique. A book to borrow and a book to own.
For ages 3-6.
April 12, 2017
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Fox's Garden by Princesse Camcam (born as Camille Garoche) is a delightful heartwarming story about a fox and her new family of kits.
It's easy for children to point out in the beginning that Fox is about to have a new family of kits to care for. She's searching for a safe place for her new family and finds it in a greenhouse nearby. The boy who lives there is curious about her. Follow along in the story to see how their relationship will unfold.
The illustrations are cut paper and have a warm and realistic appeal. It always amazes me when reading these wordless books that once you get to the end, you never realize that there were no words because the illustrations say so much.
I'm looking forward to reading this entire series...
5*****
Fox's Garden by Princesse Camcam (born as Camille Garoche) is a delightful heartwarming story about a fox and her new family of kits.
It's easy for children to point out in the beginning that Fox is about to have a new family of kits to care for. She's searching for a safe place for her new family and finds it in a greenhouse nearby. The boy who lives there is curious about her. Follow along in the story to see how their relationship will unfold.
The illustrations are cut paper and have a warm and realistic appeal. It always amazes me when reading these wordless books that once you get to the end, you never realize that there were no words because the illustrations say so much.
I'm looking forward to reading this entire series...
5*****
January 26, 2022
Beautiful illustrations with a message of kindness. It was nice to see a fox portrayed as caring and nurturing though also still as a wild creature. It's a wordless story, and, while I think it's touching and the illustrations are amazing, it did feel a little short... I was surprised when I reached the end. I'm not entirely sure how successful it would be for the typical wordless picture book audience, but then again my youngest is the one who picked it out from the library, so that should be my answer :-)
June 7, 2019
In this beautiful wordless picture-book, originally published in France as Une rencontre, and then 'translated' for the American market by the fabulous Brooklyn-based Enchanted Lion Books, a fox wanders into a small village one snowy night. Chased off by the adult residents, he (she?) seeks shelter in a greenhouse, where a little boy, having observed his retreat, brings him an offering of food. The boy is rewarded in turn when the fox and a group of fox kits find their way into his room while he sleeps, creating a delightful and magical garden - in his dreams? in reality?: it isn't clear.
Part of Enchanted Lion's Stories Without Words series, Fox's Garden is both beautiful and intriguing, depicting the mystery and enchantment of a winter's night, and the brief encounter between boy and fox. The artwork by Princess Camcam - born Camille Garoche - has a flat quality that somehow still manages to capture the murky magic of a night-time world, one in which the rich red of the fox, and the warm gold of light, is contrasted with the cool paleness of the snow. As someone with an interest in the depiction of foxes in children's books, I was particularly intrigued to see that the vulpine visitor here is depicted as a bringer of mystery and magic - something that seems increasingly to be the case, with foxes in children's stories of late. Recommended to any picture-book lover who appreciates beautiful art, as well as to fairy-tale fans, and fox-lovers.
Part of Enchanted Lion's Stories Without Words series, Fox's Garden is both beautiful and intriguing, depicting the mystery and enchantment of a winter's night, and the brief encounter between boy and fox. The artwork by Princess Camcam - born Camille Garoche - has a flat quality that somehow still manages to capture the murky magic of a night-time world, one in which the rich red of the fox, and the warm gold of light, is contrasted with the cool paleness of the snow. As someone with an interest in the depiction of foxes in children's books, I was particularly intrigued to see that the vulpine visitor here is depicted as a bringer of mystery and magic - something that seems increasingly to be the case, with foxes in children's stories of late. Recommended to any picture-book lover who appreciates beautiful art, as well as to fairy-tale fans, and fox-lovers.
January 13, 2015
Beautiful, gorgeous illustrations!! There aren't any words, but it's perfect for children who like to make up their own stories with the pictures.
March 7, 2015
Gorgeous
September 23, 2014
It would be easy to sneer at someone calling herself "Princesse Camcam". But not if you actually looked at her work. This is some gorgeous stuff, so intricate, so nuanced, so emotionally evocative. This is a beautiful book. Go, get your hands on a copy right now, before the next snowfall hits, because snowed in is a perfect way to enjoy this. I'll wait.
See, what'd I say? The light! So lovely. The fox! The kid's room!
Library copy
See, what'd I say? The light! So lovely. The fox! The kid's room!
Library copy
July 8, 2017
One winter's eve, a fox takes refuge in a greenhouse . . . for a very special reason, and a young boy's gift of food is richly rewarded.
A stunningly beautiful, wordless book.
A stunningly beautiful, wordless book.
April 28, 2019
Magical, beautiful, sweet, creative, yes. Just, I don't know, it doesn't reach through to my heart. And I'm pretty sure that when I was a child I would have been nonplussed.
July 31, 2014
Gorgeously illustrated, this wordless picture book invites readers into a snowy world. A fox finds her way into a village, warm lit against the cold snow that is falling. She is shooed away by several people but discovers an open greenhouse. A little boy sees her enter and brings her a basket of food. Now there is a fox with four baby foxes nursing. Soon after, the mother fox leads her kits to the boy’s room where they plant flowers from the greenhouse into his rug which he discovers in the morning. The five foxes disappear back into the woods.
Done in cut-paper illustrations, the images have a beautiful 3-D quality to them. You want to stroke the page and think that you will be able to lift flaps, so strong are the images. Against the white and gray snow and woods, the characters pop. The fox gloriously orange in the snow and the little boy wearing red.
Camcam lights her paper work beautifully as well, almost as if it were a stage. She conveys the welcoming warmth of the light in the village, the yellow of the windows lit against the storm. More subtly, she plays with shadows and underlighting in specific scenes, showing the cold and the night clearly.
This is a haunting picture book, done with an immense delicacy and skill. Simply beautiful. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
Done in cut-paper illustrations, the images have a beautiful 3-D quality to them. You want to stroke the page and think that you will be able to lift flaps, so strong are the images. Against the white and gray snow and woods, the characters pop. The fox gloriously orange in the snow and the little boy wearing red.
Camcam lights her paper work beautifully as well, almost as if it were a stage. She conveys the welcoming warmth of the light in the village, the yellow of the windows lit against the storm. More subtly, she plays with shadows and underlighting in specific scenes, showing the cold and the night clearly.
This is a haunting picture book, done with an immense delicacy and skill. Simply beautiful. Appropriate for ages 3-5.
February 6, 2017
A fox just looking for a warm place to have her kits. This book is longer than most books which is perfect since the illustrations are landscape. The art work is very nice and I took my time to look at it. It has a continuing theme of warm light vs. cold winter. Very lovely book that takes a bit of a fantasy turn at the end. ~Ashley
August 20, 2014
Beautiful wordless story about compassion, kindness, and gratitude.
October 20, 2014
A dreamy, wordless, breathtakingly illustrated story about a boy who feeds a mother fox on cold winter's night. Simple and wonderful.
May 29, 2015
This is an absolutely gorgeous wordless picture book. A pregnant fox seeks shelter, but is chased away. Then a small boy is kind to her, and the vixen responds in turn.
January 16, 2015
A book without words. I am an analyzer, I analyze everything around me, perhaps too much so when I look at a children’s book without words, I look at everything. This book is small so there is not much to address but I melted when I finished this book, I literally ahhhed when I closed this book. Mother fox is shooed away by others and it’s not until she makes her way into a greenhouse for the night that she finds comfort. A child, watching from a window, witnesses this event. Not being scared of the fox, he takes it upon himself to bring a basket of food to the fox before he settles down to sleep for the night. During the night, the fox and her newborn babies make their way out of the greenhouse and visit the child, bringing to him, presents. Imagine his surprise when he wakes up. The innocence of the child and the quietness of the scene is what I found most charming about this children’s book. The snow falling and yellow light glowing from inside the child’s house, there is this warmth cast over the light blue pages. The bareness of the landscape, the frigid temperatures cast their blanket on the landscape but inside the greenhouse, flowers are in bloom. Cast your own words at these pages, that is the author’s intention.
June 11, 2021
The cover of this book really does not do it justice. I kept thinking it looked like a self-published book or like a cheap digital republication of an out-of-copyright work. Upon really close inspection of the cover, and upon looking at the interior illustrations, you realize the artwork is all hand-cut paper dioramas with working lights in them to provide a glow to certain scenes. The details appear to be done mostly with pen & ink, except for the main characters, who have more color. The snowflakes look to have been added digitally. There's no note explaining the art process, though, so it's hard to know for sure.
The story is a sweet & poignant tale of kindness.
And in case you, like me, were wondering, no, the author is not actually royalty.
The story is a sweet & poignant tale of kindness.
And in case you, like me, were wondering, no, the author is not actually royalty.
December 27, 2014
Filled with exquisitely created and highly detailed illustrations, this charming wordless picture book provides a fine example of how all of us should act toward others. A pregnant fox searches for shelter in the midst of a fierce blizzard. Many villagers chase her away, and she finally heads into a greenhouse where she gives birth to her young. A compassionate boy watches all this, and he brings a basket of food to her. Later on, she returns his kindness with a flowery garden of her own. This thoughtful book was first published in France, but the kindness it illustrates easily crosses language and cultural barriers.
August 12, 2014
Kindness repays kindness in this beautiful wordless picture book. A fox seeks shelter from the snow and is turned away many times before she finds a shed. A young boy sees her and prepares a basket of food to offer her and finds she is caring for young foxes. While he sleeps, the fox family gathers a bouquet of flowers and leaves them in thanks to the young boy's thoughtfulness.
The artwork is fantastic and consists of drawings, some of which have been cut out and displayed as if in creation of a diorama. Definitely a must see for PreK-2.
The artwork is fantastic and consists of drawings, some of which have been cut out and displayed as if in creation of a diorama. Definitely a must see for PreK-2.
November 9, 2016
A charming tale with an artistic blend of mediums. Soon to be mother fox must find a place to give birth but is scared off by villagers. She eventually finds an indoor garden where it is warm and safe and soon befriends a child who looks over her and her kits. The pages come to life with its 3D like imagery and illuminated flare.
November 30, 2016
Gorgeous illustrations and a cute story. A kid brings some food to a fox and her little foxlets after the adults in the town shun her, and the foxes plant a beautiful garden on the kid's carpet to thank him. Pretty whimsical. It's really the paper cut illustrations and the amazing use of lighting that make this book so beautiful.
March 11, 2022
A beautiful little story! The fox is so elegantly drawn; there is magic in her every movement. And the papercut style illustrations give this such a transformative feeling, like I was swept away to another world. Also I love the twist that the fox was pregnant all along. I was wondering why she would get so close to humans, and it was because she was looking for shelter. Lovely book.
December 29, 2015
Wordless picture book that captures moments of kindness between a fox who has been chased away from the family home by the adults, and the child who befriends her. Love the use of light (in the windows of the home and the lamp in the boy's bedroom) and shading.
February 2, 2022
Such gorgeous illustrations!
Lovely, wordless, and enchanting.
Lovely, wordless, and enchanting.
April 30, 2025
The plot doesn't amount to much, but the artwork is just brilliant.
September 23, 2018
Stunning.
December 24, 2024
This was gorgeous, the art and the fact that the story played in my head knowing that this book has simply art but no words at all, this is magic!
August 25, 2017
You might also enjoy:
✱ Mummy Cat
✱ The Mountain That Loved a Bird - I prefer the text in this edition.
✱ The Mountain That Loved a Bird - Tulika edition, the text is different.
✱ The Fox and the Star
✱ A Boy and a Jaguar
✱ Sleep Like a Tiger
✱ Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside
✱ But Who Will Bell the Cats?
✱ Mummy Cat
✱ The Mountain That Loved a Bird - I prefer the text in this edition.
✱ The Mountain That Loved a Bird - Tulika edition, the text is different.
✱ The Fox and the Star
✱ A Boy and a Jaguar
✱ Sleep Like a Tiger
✱ Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside
✱ But Who Will Bell the Cats?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 251 reviews