The Fox and the Wild by Clive McFarland (review)

In this charming British import, Fred the fox lives in the noisy, smoky, fast-paced city. It's the only world he knows, until one day he meets a bird who tells him about the wild, where there are large trees, hills, and breezes that blow over both. Intrigued, Fred sets off in search of the wild, certain it must be a better place to live than the city. Dwarfed by his surroundings, the small orange fox wanders through the urban landscape, his sideways gaze and diminutive size evoking both his trepidation and curiosity as he searches for the wild in city parks, by the docks, and even on a garbage heap (not the right kind of hill, he concludes). McFarland's mixed-media collages render the cacophonous energy of the city and the green serenity of the wild in cut-out shapes textured with crayon and watercolor, from multicolored buildings checkered with yellow and black windows to the speckled green of a grassy hilltop when Fred finally emerges in the wild to meet another fox, who asks him about the city. Fred's adventure gently encourages children to imagine and be curious about the wider world around them in this readaloud suited to classrooms and bedtime alike.