The Blue Door: A Fox and Rabbit Story

by David McPhail, John O'Connor (Illustrator), John Ob'connor (Illustrations)

Fox and Rabbit go to the city to visit Fox's uncle knowing only that Fox's uncle has a blue door, and there they meet kindly Badger, who lies behind the first blue door they see.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2001

About the author

David was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While there, he began illustrating. He is now an award-winning author and illustrator of nearly 200 books beloved by children, parents and librarians across the United States. McPhail has garnered many prestigious awards, including a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Book of the Year for Mole Music in 2001. McPhail’s other books include First Flight, which the New York Times praised as “hilarious and helpful”; and Lost!, which was chosen as an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists.

McPhail has four children, three stepchildren, and is a proud grandfather. He is married to Jan Waldron, with whom he has written and illustrated several books. He lives in Rye, New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Merri Platt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story about two young friends, Fox and Rabbit. They live in the quiet forest and Fox has decided the he was going to the big city to visit his Uncle whom he hasn't seen in many years. He decides to invite his friend, Rabbit, along to meet his fun Uncle who tells many wonderful stories. The only problem is that when they get to the city, Fox doesn't exactly remember where his Uncle lives. The only thing he remembers is that the Uncle has a blue door. They walk all over the city and finally see a blue door. They know on it and Fox invites himself and Rabbit inside. They think this is Fox's Uncle but as the old man talks, they realize he isn't his Uncle. They leave again and finally see another blue door which is part of a restaurant and Fox knows they have found the right place. I didn't really enjoy the story all that much. I found that it didn't make much sense as to why Fox wouldn't have his uncle's address and the old man in the story wasn't all that good, either. I just didn't think it had much of a story and wasn't very exciting.
The thing I did like about this book was the illustrations. They were so clear and colorful. They look like pictures where all the lines are straight and clean. I don't like illustrations that are fuzzy and not colorful. I think the illustrations are more important than the story since most of the kids reading the books can't read yet or are just starting to read. This would be a good book to read to children and especially to 2nd grades who are starting to read longer script. I did like the idea of the book where Fox and Rabbit could be friends because out in the wild, they aren't friendly to each other at all!