Foxes in the Snow

by Jonathan Emmett, Rebecca Harry (Illustrator)

The wonderfully wintry tale of two adventurous little fox cubs and their first snowfall, from the team behind Ruby in Her Own Time

 

When Mother Fox goes out to look for food she leaves her fox cubs, Alfie and Bonnie, with clear instructions to stay inside where it's safe and snug. But the two young cubs can't resist the exciting world above, and soon find themselves in the middle of their first ever snowfall! But Alfie and Bonnie are only little and the world outside feels very big, and very white. If they snow keeps on falling, how will they ever find their way home? This cozy, reassuring story with a stunning sparkly cover is perfect for Christmas and beyond.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

About the author

Jonathan Emmett was born in Leicestershire in 1965, the son of a factory fitter and a primary school teacher.

Jonathan loved books from an early age and some of his earliest memories are of visiting his local library. The picture books that he borrowed then, including Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss and Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson have had a great influence on the picture books that he now writes.

It was while Jonathan was at college, studying architecture, that he first started developing his own illustrated texts, illustrating poems and lyrics that he’d written. Pleased with the results, he found himself spending more and more time on writing and illustration. Although he qualified as an architect, he found the job unsatisfying and began pursuing a career in children's books in his spare time, eventually going full-time in 1995, a few months before his thirtieth birthday.

As well as writing picture books such as Bringing Down the Moon, Someone Bigger, Pigs Might Fly and Ruby Flew Too, Jonathan also writes and paper-engineers pop-up books. His books have won several awards including the Red House Children’s Book Award “Book for Younger Children” for Pigs Might Fly and the Kiekeboekprijs for Bringing Down the Moon.

He now lives in Nottingham with his wife, Rachel, and children, Max and Laura.

You can visit Jonathan’s website atjonathanemmett.com

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Alfie and Bonnie's mother leaves them in their warm den underneath the oak tree, warning them not to leave, the two fox cubs soon grow restless, and Bonnie begins to explore. Discovering a magical white substance coming down outside, she convinces Alfie to join her, and soon the two are cavorting through the snow-covered wood. But when its begins to get dark, and they realize they are far from home, things suddenly don't seem so fun...

Foxes in the Snow is the first book I have read from English author/illustrator team Jonathan Emmett and Rebecca Harry. I'm not familiar with Emmett's name, although I see he has quite a few titles to his credit, but Harry was already known to me, as she is also the illustrator of Timothy Knapman's The Winter Fox , which is on my to-read list. In any case, I found both story and artwork here charming, with a fairly standard but still appealing tale of adventurous youngsters having a magical experience in the snow, before heading home, and sweet illustrations that capture both the vulpine charm of our fox characters, and the beauty of the wintry world around them. I don't know that this one is particularly outstanding, in the world of picture-books, but as someone who loves both fox stories and wintry vistas, it definitely appealed to me. Recommended to picture-book readers with those same weaknesses.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute tale of two little fox kits who venture out to experience their first snowfall, and wind up getting lost. Rebecca Harry's illustrations are too adorable for words.



A treat for fox fanciers!

[[ J o ] · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short fictional tale of sibling foxes who disobey their mother to experience their first snowfall.

A charming tale, but I can only imagine how lovely it would have been if it had rhymed. The art work was, however, utterly divine and so delicate.

[Emily Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foxes, snow, and beautiful illustrations. A lovely combination for a children’s book. Bonnie and Alfie disobey Mother Fox and venture away from their den to explore in the snow. While they soon realize they’re lost and are frightened by the thought, once they’re safely home again, there are no consequences for their disobedience, which goes unnoticed by Mother Fox. Cute story, but I would have liked it better if there was a lesson on the consequences of disobedience incorporated into the story.

[Heydi Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

A simple story about two young foxes who discover the wonders of snow and then get lost and end up falling to their own den. Nothing surprising but sweet.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with PreK. I think it was a good level for them.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spring-hibernation storytime

[Sian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Foxes in the Snow is a fiction book telling the story of two curious fox cubs, Alfie and Bonnie, who venture into the big wide world for the first time without their mother. It shows the adventure they have and their first experience of snowfall. This book is a good introduction to imaginative and adventurous stories for young children. Although a short and simple story, it allows children to use their imagination to join these two little foxes on their adventure. Along with this, children can also gain an insight from this story as the two foxes become lost when straying from their den and their mother; something which children will gain insight from.
This book would be great for young children, particularly those in Early Years (3-5) as the simplicity of such a story is accessible to them and allows them to use their imagination.
Within the classroom environment, this book would be great.Especially within a classroom bookshelf for children to look at, due to its wonderful illustrations and also to be read aloud during story time.
This book is simply a pleasant book for children to enjoy and to use their imagination ans they follow these little cubs on their adventure.

[Sarah George]

1) Genre: Picture Book
2) This story is about two foxes who await for their mother to come back during the winter. The beautiful colors of winter make this story fun to read.
3) a. Illustrations
b. The illustrations in this book are very soft and pretty. The colors are perfect to give a cold, wintery feel.
c. On some of the pages we can see other small animals like the mice. Because they are in the dirt under the ground they look warmer than the animals in front of the white in the snow.
4) The curriculum connection for this would be animal families and hibernation because of all of the different animals seen in this book.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are ADORABLE. But the story is lacking. It's kind of off-kilter in a few places, like in the beginning where the fox cubs sound super proper, "'Remember what Mother told us,' called Alfie, 'You mustn't leave the den." This type of story has been done over and over again: little ones get left alone, wander off, get lost, get scared, hear a strange and scary noise, but it's their mom, and then they're safe and sound. I wouldn't mind the triteness of the story if it had been simpler, and even rhyming would have been a good touch. But those illustrations. Adorable. I would probably still use this in a preschool winter storytime.

[Amaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little scary

[Brindi Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

lovely illustrations