Maybe a Fox

Sisters Sylvie and Jules, a year apart in age, were young children when their mother passed away suddenly. Now 12 and 11, they usually stick together–even sharing a best friend at school–but sometimes Sylvie, a runner, leaves Jules behind. Jules feels left out because of this and also because Sylvie remembers so much more about their mom. One day, Sylvie disappears and Jules and her father are left reeling in her absence. At the same time, a fox is born in the woods. The stories of Jules and the fox begin to intertwine.

I loved Maybe a Fox. Loved it. I can't wait to share it with my class after Spring Break. I know of a few students who will absolutely love this book.

Read for Fall Reading Challenge: Stories Past and Future

This is the first book I truly fell in love with. I don't fully remember picking it up off of the shelves of my library, but I do remember a little anxiety about my choice - I have an annoying complex about the things I enjoy. I stayed up late that night reading it, feeling awful, glorious, exhausted. The very next day, I went to the book fair at my elementary school. To my delight, Maybe a Fox was there, on the shelf next to the Bluebonnet Awards.* I had just enough money in my little plastic baggie to buy it. I did, and for a few days, I had two copies of Maybe a Fox in my possession.

I wish I could say I was writing this review fresh off of rereading Maybe, but it has been a month. I am in my procrastinating era, if I dare speak like my fellow zoomers.** It would be far easier to make a list of things it made me do than write the review it deserves, so I have chosen to be lazy. Without further ado:

1. The inside of the cover reads, “The property of [REDACTED] and foxes everywhere”, accompanied by a drawing of a fox.
2. I drew many foxes, one of which still hangs above my bed. They were my favorite animal for quite a while.
3. I collect wish rocks. The ones in the book are never noted to have complete, unbroken stripes circling them, but somehow I got it into my head that they did. Oh, the joy of false memories.
4. I vaguely remember making my Animal Jam character a fox. I have no idea what its in-game ID was, but I called it Vienna because that rhymes with Senna.
5. I remarked to my mom that I preferred sad endings to happy ones. I disagree with my former self to some extent; definite endings leave nothing to the imagination. A story, in my current opinion, should be stressful in the middle and left open in the end. I agree with Tolstoy, though in a slightly different way than he may have intended. “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

*Alas, Maybe a Fox was not nominated. But the 2016 Bluebonnets really hit hard. Crenshaw, Echo, A Fine Dessert (The titular dessert is delicious, I made it once.) , The Fog Diver (There is a sequel and I desperately need to read it), Lowriders in Space (Turns out I did not, in fact, hallucinate that book. Wonderfully weird. You should read it.) Nightmares!, Roller Girl (I lost my copy and it breaks my heart.) Space Case, The Terrible Two, and Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer rank as my favorites. (I still wish I owned unusual chickens of my own.)

**Who am I fooling? I already do. One cannot escape the language of their formative years, which I am in right now.