Flossie’s mom gives her a great sense of can-do. She asks Flossie to take some eggs to a neighbor’s farm because a fox has terrified the neighbor’s chickens out of laying. Flossie asks her mom, “What do a fox look like?” and Mom answers, “A fox just be a fox.” But when the fox shows up in the story, it is larger than Flossie. Flossie is neither flustered norimpressed. She demands proof that it is what it says it is. Her confidence makes the fox loose his and he is totally discumbubilated by the time Flossie reaches the other farm–with all the eggs, mind you. She is so nonchalant about the fox’s presence that it is difficult to ascertain (till the end of the story) whether or not Flossie actually knew it was a fox. She faked-out us adult readers, too. You’ll love her lesson of the gentle power of confidence.
Patricia McKissack is a master storyteller and the illustrations by Rachel Isadora are wonderful in capturing the lush pastoral landscape of the rural south, and the charm of little Flossie.
Cloth 16.99
