Little Fox and the wild imagination

Debut picture-book author Taccone teams up with veteran Santat in this riotous tribute to imaginative play, in which two foxes take turns outfoxing each other. When Poppa Fox picks up Little Fox from school, he finds him in a foul mood and tries to cheer him up with a game of pretend. They pretend they're race cars as they run for the bus, with Santat's comics-style illustrations elongating them in a series of bursts from bushy-tailed foxes to sleek race cars. On the bus, Poppa pulls out two dinosaur toys and, again, imagination works: a huge T. rex and triceratops crash through the bus windows. Once home, though, Little Fox rejects Poppa's suggestion that eating broccoli is like eating trees. Instead, he crushes the broccoli as a giant robot squid. Bath time has Poppa being eaten by a shark. Bedtime finds Little Fox, in a suspenseful sequence, hiding in his dark room. Although the story goes slightly off the rails, Santat's dynamic illustrations and the overall message make this a fun and rewarding read.

Beware the imagination that cannot be contained. When Poppa Fox comes to pick his son up after school he finds Little Fox a complete grump. Happily, Poppa Fox knows just the way to perk up his kiddo. One minute they're pretending to be race cars, the next they're dinos on the bus, and then later they're blasting off to outer space to grab some ice cream. Unfortunately, all that sugar before dinner means that Little Fox's imagination is now primed to go haywire. Now he's a robo squid destroying a broccoli forest (rather than eating his dinner), then a shark devouring his dad, who is driving a mail truck (that is, splashing way too much in the tub). Things calm down by bedtime, but when Poppa Fox tells his son he will pick him up again the next day, Little Fox already has big plans. As books built on the power of imagination go, this story starts out strong but loses steam about the time Little Fox loses his focus. Santat's art does more than its fair share of the heavy lifting, particularly when Little Fox's imagination is supposed to go off the rails. Madcap adventure never looked this fun. Yet the book can't quite nail the landing, shifting tone from one page turn to the next, leaving readers ultimately unsatisfied. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 33.8% of actual size.) Aims high but just doesn't get there. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.