An elegantly written, nuanced meditation on grief, community, and storytelling.
After the loss of a close friend, a magical fox steps into the role of forest-keeping Storyteller.
As Hewitt’s book opens, we meet Fox, who leads a cozy life in an otherworldly cottage in the woods with a magical human called the Storyteller. Together, the two tend storyseeds, cultivating narratives that grow out of the rich soil like trees. Fox often pleads with the Storyteller to learn how to care for the forest, but they always push back and tell the Fox it isn’t yet time: “That is what it means to be a Keeper of a Forest: to love and perhaps to lose, and to love anyway.” But not all is as perfect as it seems: Dark forces of chaos are encroaching upon this idyllic world, threatening the sanctity of the storyseeds. A malicious snake sows doubt in Fox’s mind about their relationship with the Storyteller and sets fire to the forest. The Storyteller gives their life to protect Fox, who they say must become the next Keeper of the Forest, but also gives them a small bag of harvested storyseeds. By the time a mystical bird named Alethia finds Fox sometime later, Fox has fallen deep into grief for their lost friend and rejected their mission. With Alethia’s help, Fox discovers the strengths that help them care for storyseeds even as they grapple with their own questions about where they belong in the world. The setting and circumstances of this third, stand-alone installment in Hewitt’s Finding Foxtale Forest series are simple but strong, providing the author with a poignant backdrop for her deft navigation of the complexities of Fox’s grief. Their recovery after the Storyteller’s death is by no means straightforward and instead features deep self-doubt, pain, and attempts to cheat fate that readers will find relatable. Burke taps into the ethereal nature of the story with luminous, loving illustrations that use clever angles and deep colors to convey the story’s epic fairy-tale essence.
An elegantly written, nuanced meditation on grief, community, and storytelling.Pub Date: March 30, 2026
ISBN: 9781964010137
Page Count: 109
Publisher: Finding Foxtale
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A real gem.
A 10-year old girl learns to adjust to a strange town, makes some fascinating friends, and fills the empty space in her heart thanks to a big old stray dog in this lyrical, moving, and enchanting book by a fresh new voice.
India Opal’s mama left when she was only three, and her father, “the preacher,” is absorbed in his own loss and in the work of his new ministry at the Open-Arms Baptist Church of Naomi [Florida]. Enter Winn-Dixie, a dog who “looked like a big piece of old brown carpet that had been left out in the rain.” But, this dog had a grin “so big that it made him sneeze.” And, as Opal says, “It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.” Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal meets Miss Franny Block, an elderly lady whose papa built her a library of her own when she was just a little girl and she’s been the librarian ever since. Then, there’s nearly blind Gloria Dump, who hangs the empty bottle wreckage of her past from the mistake tree in her back yard. And, Otis, oh yes, Otis, whose music charms the gerbils, rabbits, snakes and lizards he’s let out of their cages in the pet store. Brush strokes of magical realism elevate this beyond a simple story of friendship to a well-crafted tale of community and fellowship, of sweetness, sorrow and hope. And, it’s funny, too.
A real gem. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0776-2
Page Count: 182
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2000
SEEN & HEARD
Entrancing and uplifting.
A small dog, the elderly woman who owns him, and a homeless girl come together to create a tale of serendipity.
Piper, almost 12, her parents, and her younger brother are at the bottom of a long slide toward homelessness. Finally in a family shelter, Piper finds that her newfound safety gives her the opportunity to reach out to someone who needs help even more. Jewel, mentally ill, lives in the park with her dog, Baby. Unwilling to leave her pet, and forbidden to enter the shelter with him, she struggles with the winter weather. Ree, also homeless and with a large dog, helps when she can, but after Jewel gets sick and is hospitalized, Baby’s taken to the animal shelter, and Ree can’t manage the complex issues alone. It’s Piper, using her best investigative skills, who figures out Jewel’s backstory. Still, she needs all the help of the shelter Firefly Girls troop that she joins to achieve her accomplishment: to raise enough money to provide Jewel and Baby with a secure, hopeful future and, maybe, with their kindness, to inspire a happier story for Ree. Told in the authentic alternating voices of loving child and loyal dog, this tale could easily slump into a syrupy melodrama, but Pyron lets her well-drawn characters earn their believable happy ending, step by challenging step, by reaching out and working together. Piper, her family, and Jewel present white; Pyron uses hair and naming convention, respectively, to cue Ree as black and Piper’s friend Gabriela as Latinx.
Entrancing and uplifting. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-283922-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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