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Summary
Summary
With luminous illustrations, this original folktale about the discovery of a lifeless bird offers a sympathetic exploration of grief, loss, and hope.
One morning, Fox is drawn toward the forest. There, in a clearing, he sees something small and silent, perhaps forgotten. It's a bird, lying as still as can be. Fox is confused, upset, and angry. Is the bird broken? Why doesn't it move or sing, no matter what Fox does? His curious antics are spied by a little moth, who shares a comforting thought about the circles in the sky--that the sun, even after it sets, is reflected by the moon and the stars, reminding us of its light. In an author-illustrator debut, Karl James Mountford pairs a text at once lyrical and humorous, meditative and down-to-earth with glorious, multilayered artwork that will take your breath away. Told with sensitivity and an enchanting visual style, this story of the ineffable nature of death and life has the feel of a universal folktale for modern times.
Author Notes
Karl James Mountford is an illustrator who works in both traditional and digital media. He illustrated the picture books Maurice the Unbeastly by Amy Dixon and The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth by Ellie Hattie as well as book covers and chapter illustrations for adult titles. He lives and works in Wales, where his sketchbooks rarely get a day off.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Drawn out of his den by strange birdsong, Fox finds a group of crows gathered around a lone bird lying on the ground. In crisp digital spreads, Mountford (The Moonlight Zoo) renders the black bird's claws drawn up awkwardly, its eyes staring at nothing. Not yet understanding death, Fox doesn't know what's wrong; he lacks precise vocabulary for the sun and the moon, too, calling them simply "circles in the sky." A moth who knows more about the natural world's cycles tries to explain death using the nightly disappearance of the sun as a metaphor. "Are you saying Bird will be back tomorrow?!" Fox asks, with hope. Moth backpedals. "JUST TELL ME THE TRUTH," Fox shouts, in a moment of raw emotionality. "Bird is dead," Moth admits. Suddenly, things become clear: "Fox didn't know that word well, but he felt it." In a deeply affecting sequence, the two mourn together. Stylized visual elements--geometric borders that work as hills, circles for heavenly bodies, and seemingly buried skeletons whose faint presence appears alongside the living creatures' own--offer layers of reality echoed by intuitively pitched lines that capture youth's first encounter with death's finality, and with the experience of saying goodbye. Ages 3--7. (Sept.)
Horn Book Review
After a day on the hunt, Fox hears the birds singing in a new and different way. Fox follows their "strange morning song" and finds them gathered around a totally still and "broken" bird. As Fox sits in confusion, a moth joins him and attempts an explanation. Though lovely, Moth's metaphor of the rising of the sun and setting of the moon leaves Fox exasperated and impatient for real answers. Moth shares: "Sad things are hard to hear. They are pretty hard to say, too. They should be told in little pieces." When at last Moth states simply that the bird has died, the two animals sit together in sadness, in remembrance, and, at last, in hope. This original fable of Fox and Moth's reckoning with death is both earnest and sensitive in its approach to loss and grief. The animal figures stand out in shades of black and gray against soft red and green landscapes, each layered with captivating geometric patterns. In some cases, Mountford's digitally rendered spreads offer nods to the circle of life within the forest floor itself: fossils hide beneath Fox's feet on one page while lush, blooming flowers surround him on another. An apt selection for children grappling with the sorrow and pain of loss. Grace McKinney November/December 2022 p.69(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The twin desires to mourn and to comfort imbue a simple fable played out by a woodland cast. Though Fox is eager for rest after a long night of hunting, his curiosity is piqued when he hears the birds singing a strange new song. He follows them to a dead bird in a field. Fox's confusion attracts the attention of Moth, who finds it difficult to explain what has happened to the bird. Instead, Moth tells Fox how the moon reflects the sun's rays, even long after the sun has gone. Fox struggles to understand until Moth explains that the bird is dead. "I was trying to be kind," Moth tells Fox. "Sad things are hard to hear. They are pretty hard to say, too. They should be told in little pieces." As Fox grapples with the newfound realization, Moth offers solace if not the explanation he was seeking. Mountford does dual duty in giving voice to both the confusion that comes with death and a template on how to be there for those in pain. Tonally, the book never turns precious, the storytelling clear, concise, and sympathetic. All this is wonderfully accompanied by digital art resembling woodcuts and lithographs, the black of the fox, the birds, and the moth contrasting keenly with the colors of the natural world surrounding them. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Speaking to heart and eye in equal measures, a beautiful treatise on remembering life and helping those left behind. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
One morning, a fox pokes his head out of his den when he notices the birds sound a little different. On beautifully illustrated pages with stylized images of forests and animals, readers are taken on a journey to different places in the forest until the fox encounters a bird that isn't moving. There he meets a curious moth, who keeps him company and tries to gently help him understand death and grieving. The moth explains that the bird is no longer alive and helps the fox process his feelings upon learning the sad news. The "circles in the sky"--the sun and moon--become a useful metaphor for grasping both the passing of time and the importance of memory. The story is cyclical, beginning at the dawn of one day and ending with the dawn of the next, which emphasizes the message that life and death are all part of a natural cycle. With a light touch and a tone respectful of big, confusing feelings around the concept of death, this warm and matter-of-fact book could be a useful aid in difficult conversations.
