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Quentin Blake

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Reviewed by Elliott, 10

How far would you go to save your family from starving while people are trying to kill you? That is the conflict facing a clever, sly and brave fox in the entertaining book Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl. The main character, Mr. Fox, struggles to keep his family fed while three farmers named farmer Boggis, farmer Bunce, and farmer Bean are determined to kill him. Mr. Fox is outnumbered, but he is very clever and dedicated. Will it be enough to save his family and friends? Mr. Fox is a thief, but the three farmers that he steals from are described as mean and gross. The farmers have plenty of food, but they still won’t share with Mr. Fox. They want to shoot his head off. While the fox family and all their friends are starving and hiding underground, Boggis, Bunce and Bean are eating right above them. The author, Roald Dahl, creates a negative image about the farmers that makes the reader want to like Mr. Fox better than the farmers even though he is stealing from the three farmers. Farmer Boggis eats three chickens every meal time along with dumplings, making him really fat. The most disgusting of them all is Farmer Bunce, who is really short with a pot belly. He spreads mashed goose livers on donuts and eats them at every meal. Farmer Bean doesn’t eat, but he drinks a lot of apple cider. He is also mean. The reason that we think that they are all mean is that they are trying to kill Mr. Fox while starving him and his family and friends. Fantastic Mr. Fox is obviously a fictional story because the animals act like humans—they have tables, chairs, paintings and dining stuff in their den. Also, all the animals are friends, but in real life the foxes would have attacked the rabbits, badgers, moles and the weasels. I am also on the foxes’ and the other animals’ side because they are animals and they are struggling to feed themselves. Mr. Fox is stealing, but the law doesn’t apply to animals. By the time Mr. Fox and his family are starving, most readers would be on Mr. Fox’s side. The story makes me think about how far I would go to save my family from starving. In this case, Mr. Fox must succeed in outsmarting the farmers or he and his family will all perish. I highly recommend the book Fantastic Mr. Fox because it’s funny and it’s about the importance of never giving up hope.   Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl & illustrated by Quentin Blake. Alfred A. Knopf, 1970. Buy the book here & support Stone Soup in the process!