Shadow Fox

The voice of Shadow, a wild and lonely fox, tells this latest poignant story from Carlie Sorosiak, Shadow Fox. At the heart of the book (and it is a big heart) is his relationship with the unconventional human girl, Bee.

To begin with, they are drawn into an uneasy alliance by an inexplicable connection that neither has chosen and that confuses them both. Together, they discover magical islands hidden behind the ripples of the Great Lakes, encounter dark dangers and are plunged into a desperate mission to save a whole ecosystem under threat.  Little by little, the mysterious connection of convenience transforms their bickering into mutual devotion, until they choose each other as their place to belong.

The narration has a surface simplicity, like the fox's main concerns (food and safety). He describes rather than explains events in relatively short sentences and there is plenty of direct speech. Make no mistake, though, this is a fox with a wide vocabulary and a poetic turn of phrase: he suppresses his whimpers and allows himself a haughty twitch of his tail; the ground heartbeats to the brush of his paw and he skitters over cliffs to hide himself in sky-milk (fog).

In class, many parts of the story would make good models for writing. Carlie Sorosiak has a gift for creating non-human narrators and reviewing the oddities and imperfections of the world of humans from an animal's perspective. It gives her writing an originality and warmth that will appeal to fans of animal books like those by Hannah Gold or Gill Lewis.

240 pages / Reviewed by Louisa Farrow, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+

Carlie Sorosiak's ability to convey what animals might be thinking and feeling brings life to all her stories and Shadow Fox is no exception.

Shadow, a fox, has already experienced tragedy in his young life when he meets Bee; a magical bond between them takes them on a quest to find her missing gran but they also find themselves trying to save an island whose magical habitat is under threat.

In Shadow Fox, the people trying to rob the island of its magic become a rich metaphor for exploring how we rob and pollute beautiful landscapes, but at the heart of the story, and what makes it so wonderful to read, is the growing friendship between the lost Fox and the lonely girl, Bee. The magic that blooms within the fox and the girl causes many mishaps, danger and much humour, but it is also the bond between them that helps the two friends to save each other.

Shadow Fox is a many layered story that gives us much to think about and much to admire in its beautiful turn of phrases and imaginative appeal. This would make a lovely class read, as well as an appealing story for a home or school library, particularly for young animal lovers and children who enjoy stories with a little magic. Highly recommended.

240 pages / Reviewed by Elen Green

Suggested Reading Age 9+