Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl – A Review

The Book

Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
Published by Alfred A Knopf
Released in 1970
Goodreads | Amazon
Author Links: Website | Twitter

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Synopsis

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a children’s book about Mr. Fox and his family. Every night, Mr. Fox goes to one of the three farms surrounding the hole they live in and steals food for his family. The farms are run by nasty men: farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean.

One day the farmers decide they’ve had enough of Mr. Fox stealing their food, and they band together to kill Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and their four small foxes. The rest of the story is the adventure of Mr. Fox outwitting the farmers and saving both his family and his other burrowing friends.

The book is dotted with tons of illustrations by Quentin Blake, who did the art for most of Dahl’s books.

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Review

It’s no secret to people who have been reading this blog since the beginning that I adore Roald Dahl’s books (click to read my review of The Witches). Fantastic Mr. Fox might be one of my favorites.

It’s a very short read. The edition I picked up from the library came out at less than 90 pages, and I believe it took me less than an hour to finish it. I actually love the Puffin Books edition I got from the library due to its having red text and illustrations. I’m so used to the standard black ink that the red made reading the story really fun.

One of the reasons I love this book so much is that, at its core, it’s a book about the connection between family and friends. They work together, through their exhaustion and starvation, to stay alive. It’s a serious message told through a light-hearted story.

I’m still very much on the fence about the artwork by Quentin Blake. I agree with what I said in my review about The Witches that while it’s great for children’s books, I’m not a huge fan of it, but it is somewhat starting to grow on me.

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Verdict

I’m giving this story four out of five stars. It was so much fun to re-read a book I loved as a child. It’s the perfect gift for the animal-loving children in your life.

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