Kindergarteners through second graders will love Fluffy Fox and the Little Turtle by Matthew Barnes. The colorful illustrations have joyful hues of bright blues and greens, and the black-and-white illustrations add cozy comfort to the story.
Fluffy Fox, like her fox friends, uses her poofy tail to keep herself warm at night. But one day, she starts losing fur from her tail. As she runs with her friends, more fur flies off, and a picture shows her gaping as she watches the fur floating in the air. She gets cold at night, and her brother wraps his tail around her to keep her warm. However, as she loses more fur, she feels embarrassed and doesn’t want to play with her friends. The picture shows her walking alone, both her ears and her nearly bald tail drooping, as her brother looks on with concern.
Meanwhile, Little Turtle’s shell has a loose square, making him susceptible to the cold night. His parents take him to the Wise Old Owl, who tells them his shell needs mending. The turtle family tries everything to mend the shell but to no avail. Fluffy Fox sees them fretting and sacrifices the last of her tail fur, and they make a patch out of that fur to fix up Little Turtle. I do wonder how they attach that patch to his shell, as they failed to attach leaves and sticks to it, though a fox-fur patch sounds softer and more comfortable.
Fluffy Fox’s friends see her bald tail, and she tells them how she helped Little Turtle. They worry about her getting cold. Her story must be touching them, for they shake their tails to lose some of their fur, and Little Turtle’s mother ties the fur onto Fluffy Fox. Fluffy Fox’s tail is back to, well, fluffy, and a picture shows Fluffy Fox playing at the pond with her fox and turtle friends. The Wise Old Owl looks on with a soft smile on his beak.
It has a strong message of serving and caring for others, even while we’re suffering and feeling insecure about ourselves. The story also teaches that, as Fluffy Fox’s friends demonstrate, if each one gives a little of themselves, they all add up to something special, something that can brighten someone’s day. Those same friends show what real friends do: they give what their hurting friends need. They give them love.
This book can be added to your personal or church library. You may even add it to your public library, as the story isn’t preachy. And if you happen to have a library of fox books, this would be a fun addition, too.
