Allison Lee Blyler

Author Allison Blyler and illustrator Robert J. Blake explore the nature of foxes in this poetic picture-book. The simple but immensely evocative text describes a fox in the daytime - "the leaves on the breath of the wind, the fox in a circle of sunlight. The day was gilt-edged and so was the fox" - before moving into the night-time world of imagination, seeming to envision the fox as a figure of majesty and mystery. The accompanying artwork by Blake, done in gouache, depicts the fox against a backdrop of field and forest, moving from the golden tones of day to the darker ones of night...

The text of Finding Foxes is not a story, but a poem. There is a narrative of sorts, in the brief pages in which the fox is hunting, "cruelly red, in a knife of sun," but this is more a book about creating an impression and communicating a feeling, than it is about telling a tale. The language is sparse but beautiful, with certain phrases - "the fox knows what is real and what is imagined" / "I can weave an imagination of foxes" / "If I imitate the fox, I cannot change him" - that linger in the mind. The illustrations are simply lovely, capturing the beauty of the fox's world, and hinting at the essential mystery of his nature. I had to request Finding Foxes through inter-library loan, but now that I have read it, I would love to own a copy, as I feel its textual and visual beauty will reward rereading. Recommended to fox lovers young and old, and to anyone looking for picture-books which communicate a sense of the mystery of creation.… (meer)