Fox and Rabbit, by Beth Terry | Book Review

Book Review of Fox and Rabbit
The Children’s Book Review

Written by Beth Terry

Illustrated by Gergley Dudás

Ages 5-8 | 96 Pages

Publisher: Amulet Books | ISBN: 9781419740770

What to Expect: Easy Reader, Anthropomorphic Animals, Friendship

It’s not quite a picture book, and it’s not quite a chapter book.  Instead, Fox and Rabbit is a comic book!  This story of friendship centers on the adventures of a fox and a rabbit whose very different personalities allow them to share their strengths and support one another. As they move from one adventure to another, the two friends help each other through frights and disappointments and learn to enjoy the simple pleasures of togetherness.

Comic books, otherwise known as graphic novels, are a growing industry in children’s literature, but relatively few are produced for very young readers. It’s a shame because comic reading develops a wide range of literacy skills that neither picture-book reading nor chapter-book reading can fully encapsulate. To successfully read a comic, a reader must decode images as linear strings and at the same time recognize whole pages and page spreads as narrative units. Readers must also learn to recognize the relationship between images and text. At the same time, comic-book reading allows and encourages readers to explore the spaces between images and events, the edges of frames and the gutters between images. In many ways, therefore, comic reading encourages the development of reading skills particularly suitable for the digital information era.

Fox and Rabbit is a particularly well-written comic book, making it all the more welcome in this developing genre for young readers. The story itself is endearing and is characterized by gentle humor that sometimes reveals itself in the dialogue but more frequently appears as a subtext to the images themselves.  The story is easy to follow, but readers will have fun unraveling the details in individual images to learn more about the characters and the world they inhabit. Reluctant readers, in particular, will enjoy the way the story unfolds through pictures—as well as words—without feeling the perceived stigma of reading a “baby” book.

Fox and Rabbit is an enjoyable read and a promising start to what will hopefully become a longer series.

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About the Author

Beth Ferry is the author of many books for young readers, including Caveboy Crush and the New York Times bestselling Stick and Stone. She lives in New Jersey with her family. You can find out more at https://www.bethferry.com/.

About the Illustrator

Gergely Dudás is a self-taught illustrator best known for his seek and find-style web comics. He is the author-illustrator of the Bear’s Book of Hidden Things series. You can find his work on Instagram at @thedudolf. He lives in Budapest.

Fox and Rabbit, written by Beth Ferry, was reviewed by Dr. Jen Harrison. Discover more books like Fox and Rabbit by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Graphic Novel, Comics, Adventure, Animals, and Friendship.