George Saunders
When I returned from our September Hiking Holiday with a bad cough and wasn't really up to much, my Mum and my sister came visiting one lunch time. My Mum brought home-cooked vegetable soup, and as a get-well-soon gift for me, this beautiful little book in its German version (original title: Fox 8).
I put it on the chest of drawers in my tiny hallway, where it complements the fox-themed bits of decoration I have already in place, among others Neil's painting of Fred Fox, a once regular visitor to his garden until one day he stopped appearing.
Foxes are my favourite animals, and around my home, you'll find them in many places, shapes and sizes.
Fox 8 is part of a group of foxes who live in the woods, happily going about their business. He is curious and likes to observe humans, often sitting underneath their windows so he can hear them talk. That way, he manages to learn their language.
A large shopping mall is planned outside the town, endangering the woods where the foxes live. Fox 8 thinks it should be possible to reason with the humans he feels he has gotten to know quite well, even though he has never had any direct contact with them.
When one day he and his best friend approach the humans working on the construction site for the mall, things take a dramatic turn.
This short book, published in 2018, lives of its peculiar language (Fox 8 may have mastered the human language as such, but he admits to not being a master in spelling and grammar) and of course the wonderful illustrations by Chelsea Cardinal.
It is a work of art, and one that touches the mind and heart as much as the eye. It certainly had that effect on me!
I'd never come across George Saunders before, but if you are interested, his website is here.
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