From master storyteller Michael Morpurgo comes "Little Foxes". Bullied at school, nagged in Aunty May's tenth-floor council flat, there's only one place Billy really feels alive - in the wilderness by the canal. There he watches a cygnet on the water and protects a family of fox cubs. Then his secret place is discovered and the fox family decimated. Unwanted and unloved, Billy and the last fox run for their lives.

About the Author

Former Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo needs no introduction. He is one of the most successful children's authors in the country, loved by children, teachers and parents alike. Michael has written more than forty books and won the Whitbread Award, the Smarties Award, the Circle of Gold Award, the Children's Book Award and has been short-listed for the Carnegie Medal four times. His novels have been adapted for film (My Friend Walter, Why the Whales Came) and stage (including, Kensuke's Kingdom for the Polka Theatre and Why the Whales Came for Alibi). Michael received an OBE in December 2006 for his services to literature.

Reviews

Gr 4-6 Abandoned at birth, Billy Bunch, now ten, has lived in a string of foster homes. He stutters, does poorly in school, and has no friends, finding consolation in an abandoned churchyard and its environs where he watches birds and other wildlife. It is here that he rescues a deux ex machina in swan shape from some vicious boys, and is miraculously cured of his stutter. He also finds a family of foxes, and when the vixen is run over, Billy rescues one of the cubs and runs away with it (aided and abetted here and there by the d.e.m.). Ultimately, Billy finds a home and a family, the fox returns to the wild, and the d.e.m., ``her mission accomplished at last,'' heads for the swannery. This is overwritten in spots and has other weaknesses to boot (Billy, portrayed as a keen nature observer, fails to notice the swan's bright red leg band for months). As it stands, this plot is too contrived to be convincing. Patricia Manning, Eastchester Public Library, N.Y.

"On Little Foxes the Guardian said: 'Imaginatively written... Highly recommended,' and the Observer said: 'Combines suspense, surprise and a tear or two.'"