Hattie and the Fox

by Mem Fox

Book Overview

Hattie the Hen spots danger -- but the goose and the pig and the sheep and the horse and the cow don't seem to care Young children will enjoy happy shivers of anticipation as this cumulative tale builds, and they'll be delighted by the final surprise, when everyone sees that what Hattie has been saying is true

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0027354709
• ISBN13: 9780027354706
• Release Date: April 1987
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 7.7" x 10.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 7 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 2

Customer Reviews

An engaging book for preschoolers

I first discovered this book over 10 years ago when I was studying to become a teacher. Whilst on practical teaching placement, the Preschool teacher I was studying with introduced this book as her book of the week. The children were enthralled by the story, the sense of impending danger as the fox begins to emerge, the repetitious remarks that the animals make and the beautiful water coloured illustrations, all add up to a classic story for young children. This story is so simple that children memorize it within a couple of tellings. You will find that you no longer needed to read the story yourself, the children will do it for you.

Absolute Gem for inspiring early reading - repetition and anticipation

A really enjoyable book and great fun for inspiring a love of reading early on. This book is about Hattie, a hen in the farmyard, first she sees a pair of eyes, then two eyes and two ears, two eyes, two ears and a nose - and so on. She tells the other farmyard animals who always react in the same way. My younger kids (3 and 4) really enjoy this, they can read along and anticipate the story as it is repetitious and builds up great suspense. We can see the fox slowly forming out of the bushes, but the other animals are oblivious to it just going about their novmal business - until the fox comes out of the bushes! The last picture is priceless, all the animals have been illustrated with enormous eyes literalloy popping out of their heads. My kids just love this book and I am so glad to see it has been reprinted. The illustrations are vaguely reminiscent of the kind of artwork in the very hungry caterpillar (ERic Carle) but darker colours and more realistic. A truly lovely book and highly recommended.

Great Book for...

This is a great book for Readers Theatre and fluency. Teachers your students will really enjoy reading this book in conjunction with the readers theatre.

Foxy loxy

Being a children's librarian is all about trial and error. You think a book is going to make for a good readaloud during your storytime, but then you find that it's either too long or too boring or the wrong age level for your group or any other millions of reasons why you've failed to capture your audience's attention. This situation happens with even the best of authors. It does not happen, however, with Mem Fox. Now obviously you shouldn't go about reading aloud EVERY Mem Fox title you come across. I love, "Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge" but it really is more of a one-on-one book. However, when it comes to books like "Hattie and the Fox" you are in safe safe hands. I was shocked when I discovered that it was not considered one of Fox's best-known book (curse you, Koala Lou!). It should be though. A great use of repetition and a title that knows how to ratchet up the tension, "Hattie and the Fox" takes the old predator v. prey model and gives it a bovine twist. One day Hattie, the resident big black hen, happens to look up and see a long reddish nose with a black tip sitting in a nearby bush. "Goodness gracious me! I can see a nose in the bushes!". You might think this kind of statement might provoke a bit of interest in the other farm animals, but it apparently does no such thing. The goose says "Good grief!", the pig says, "Well, well!", the sheep says, "Who cares?", the horse says, "So what?", and the particularly blasé cow says, "What next?". Well I'll tell you what next. Next Hattie happens to notice that the nose has been joined by two eyes in the bushes. Again the other animals say their customary responses. Even if Hattie notices a nose, two eyes and two ears in the bushes (she's always careful to say just how many body parts she sees), no one is paying much attention. About the time she gets to, "a nose, two eyes, two ears, a body, four legs, and a tail" she puts two and two together (no more, as needed) and screams out, "It's a fox! It's a fox!". The other animals apparently didn't see this coming and are provoked into a panic. All the other animals, that is, except the cow who lets loose a rousing "MOO!" that scares the fox away. The last two pages show utterly silent animals standing stock still as the text tells us, "And they were all so surprised that none of them said anything for a very long time". A good readaloud picture book isn't afraid of a little repetition. What's particularly nice about "Hattie and the Fox" is that the tension not only escalates but takes on a kind of familiar series of steps. Mem Fox is doing something rather similar to that old Little Red Riding Hood storytelling technique of, "But Grandma, what big EYES you have" and drawing it out. The contrast between Hattie (who lives in spite of the fact that she doesn't recognize a fox until she sees the tip of his bushy bushy tail), the nonplussed animals, and the fox with dinner on his mind is reflected beautifully in the text

A great book to get your child to read on his/her own.

This book is great for the 3/4 year old. It's been one of my daughter's favorite since the day we received it. The animal noises are fun, but what seems to keep her interested is the emerging fox from out of the bushes. A year since we've been reading the book, she has it memorized and enjoys reading the book back to me with inflection and anticipation for the fox's arrival. This is a great story time book as well.I've seen it keep 3-5 year olds at the edge of their seat with the right librarian reading the story!