A Fox Found a Box

July 8, 2019
In wintry watercolors and colored pencil drawings, Adamson (Douglas, You’re a Genius!) tells the Zen-like story of a group of forest creatures who learn to listen deeply. While searching for food beneath the snow, Fox unearths a “box” (a little blue radio). At first, the object flummoxes Fox and the other creatures. They fiddle with the antenna and dials until, with a “click,” the box begins to emit noises, which Adamson visualizes with music notes and colorful instruments. The animals “swish their tails, flap their wings, and move their feet,” feeling by turns “dreamy,” “sort of sad,” and the urge to “ROCK OUT.” When one day the radio stops playing, the critters mourn the singing box, then awaken to the sounds of the forest: “the whoosh-whoosh of the wind,” “the gurgle-gurgle of the river.” Before long, they’re noticing and appreciating sights, smells, even the experience of catching snowflakes on their tongues. Adamson’s joyful scenes emphasize the quiet contentment to be found in nature, issuing a call to pay attention, technology in hand or no. Ages 3–7.

August 1, 2019
When Fox finds a radio while digging for food in the snow, he and his forest companions become transfixed by the music it produces, finding that it has the power to affect their feelings. When the box stops making noise, the animals try to revive it. "But nothing would make the box sing again." This newly recaptured quietude permits Fox to hear the "drip! drop! drip! drop!" of water droplets making a puddle. "Fox's whole body moved to the drip-drop beat." The other animals hear forest sounds, too: the whooshing wind, chattering geese, the "crunch-crunch of snow...[a]nd the gurgle-gurgle of the river." Their senses quicken to all that their wintry habitat affords. "And every night, the animals would...let the forest sing them to sleep." (Sharp-eyed kids will note that Owl is awake.) Adamson's onomatopoeic text pays fond tribute to music's power to evoke and shape emotions. His narrative presents children with lovely examples of nature's own ability to sing to us, if we open our senses. Washy watercolors, accented with colored pencil against plenty of white space, charmingly portray the creatures' expressions of wonderment, anxiety, and contentment. This introduction to the sensory pleasures of music and nature makes a fine winter's tale for storytime or bedtime. (Picture book. 3-7)

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October 7, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-A small red fox is searching for food beneath the snow when he discovers what he and all of his woodland friends believe to be a small, blue box. After playing with some buttons, the box, which is actually a radio, begins to sing, and all of the animals quickly begin to dance. Each day, they listen to music that makes them feel dreamy, sad, or ready to rock out. When the box stops singing one day, Fox and the other animals discover that there is music everywhere in the forest-the drip-drop of the rain or the sound of snow crunching under their paws. The adorable, lighthearted narrative paired with the charming illustrations rendered in sketchy colored pencil and cool watercolor washes cleverly communicate the vital message of this tale. VERDICT A refreshing ode to the music of the forest and the beauty of the natural world. Recommended for all picture book collections.-Brianne Colombo, Fairfield Free Public Library, NJ

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2019
Preschool-G A little red fox is pouncing through the snow, hoping to find something to eat, when he lands on something hard and un-snack-like. He digs up what adult readers, and perhaps some children, will recognize as a radio and sets about trying to figure out what it could be. Fox reaches out a paw to fiddle with its stick (antenna) and round things (dials), causing the mysterious box to begin playing music. The surrounding animals begin to swish their tails, flap their wings, and move their feet in their very first dance party. Listening to the box becomes a beloved daily pastime for the animals (there's no predator-prey dynamic here). Adamson utilizes snowy white backdrops for many scenes, keeping the adorably rendered animals front and center. On one double-page spread, they lounge around the box as it plays dreamy tunes, while on another, they rock out as it blares psychedelic guitars. An unexpected development interrupts their new routine, but Adamson delivers a sweet resolution that will have readers looking at the world with fresh eyes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)