FINDING FOXTALE FOREST

In Hewitt’s children’s fantasy sequel, five girls reunite with a mysterious fox to break through illusions in another world.

Since their last adventure in Foxtale Forest, third graders Amy, Kez, Eva, Pax, and Dani have all felt a desire to belong, whether it’s in the popular group at school or in their own families. None of the girls are happy, and they each yearn for a return to the forest. However, when the Fox calls them back there, they don’t leave their personal issues behind. The Fox sends them to investigate the city of Lumina, where almost everyone wears special glasses called Visionizers that show them images of a flourishing and modern urban landscape: “Where you’re going, the truth is hard to see. To uncover what’s real, you have to look with more than just your eyes.” The only people in Lumina who don’t regularly wear Visionizers are Tyler, who does so secretly so he can enter the mayor’s citywide Visioneering Games, and his mother, Mira, an engineer who doesn’t trust the universal addiction to a false reality. When Ty runs away to enter the competition, the girls decide to track him down in order to protect him from the mayor’s schemes. This second book in Hewitt’s series presents a larger-than-life adventure with a relevant lesson about being yourself and stepping away from screens to embrace the real world—two things that Amy, in particular, grapples with throughout the story. It’s difficult to keep track of the individual personalities of each of the five girls, other than Amy, but many readers may find the lives of individual members of the diverse group to be relatable. Burke's dynamic full-color illustrations punctuate key moments in each chapter, and smaller black-and-white insets appear throughout.

A strong sequel with a clear message about embracing one’s true self.