The Big Bad Fox

April 10, 2017
French graphic novelist Renner’s hapless fox doesn’t like to kill prey, and he’s putty in the hands of the local wolf, who talks him into stealing three eggs from a farm to be eaten once they hatch. “It’s simple,” the wolf promises. “You just put them in your mouth and chew. I’ll show you.” Renner’s cramped, spidery lines and diminutive vignettes convey an ever-changing kaleidoscope of expressions on the face of the fox: dismay, shock, sheepish embarrassment. Not unpredictably, the three fluffy chicks grow to love their parent (“If Mommy’s the Big Bad Fox, then we’re Little Bad Foxes!”), and the fox, in spite of himself, finds that he’s attached to them, too. Although a couple of the episodes skew too long, Renner’s tone hits the sweet spot between snarkiness and sentimentality, and Johnson’s translation is seamless. The supporting characters on the farm deserve recognition, too, such as the hen who organizes her colleagues to beat the pulp out of foxes, and the lazy hound who tries replacing the stolen eggs with refrigerator equivalents. Ages 7–11.