View source for Nanny Fox by Georgie Adams and Selina Young

{{infobox2
|title=Nanny Fox
|author=Georgie Adams and Selina Young
|reviewer=Ruth Ng
|genre=For Sharing
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1444008104
|pages=32
|publisher=Orion Childrens
|date=July 2013
|aznuk=1444008102
|aznus=1444008102
|cover=1444008102
|website=http://www.georgieadams.com/
|video=
|summary=A fox who likes chickens as friends?  Turning the usual stereotypes upside down, this is a sweet book about standing up for what you believe in.
}}
Everyone knows that foxes eat chickens.  It's a storybook standard.  But here, in this story, Arnold the Fox likes chickens to be his friends, not his dinner.  He'd rather have a peanut butter sandwich instead!

Arnold spends a lot of his time watching the chickens on the farm.  He likes to see them peck and scratch.  He loves to watch the eggs hatch.  And eating them is, for him, unthinkable!  However, his family have other ideas and whilst they're busy tucking in to a big fat hen, Arnold is busy eating peanut butter sandwiches.  As his mother is training him and his brother and sister in how to catch hens Arnold begins to feel that perhaps it is time he moved out, because he is more and more horrified by their behaviour.  Just as he decides this he sees an advert - the hens are looking for a Nanny for their chicks!

Once Mrs Buff Orpington is over the shock of seeing Arnold at the hen house she soon decides to give him the job, and Arnold finds he takes to it naturally, carrying the chicks around in a basket on his bike, teaching them to do the egg and spoon race...it's all lots of fun, only he doesn't tell his family what his new job is.  Of course you can probably guess what is going to happen...yes, one evening his brother and sister come hunting and they catch Mrs Buff Orpington.  Fortunately Arnold comes to the rescue.  His family decide that they can no longer try to catch hens at Arnold's farm, and go to bed hungry.  And Arnold is hailed a hero, much-loved by all his little chicks!

This is a sweet little story, a little bit unusual, and with darling illustrations.  I liked Arnold very much, his brave stand against his family to not eat chicken and how he follows his heart regarding how he feels about his feathered friends.  It's a good lesson to learn for little ones, if perhaps a bit complicated for some smaller children to pick up on.  I did feel that perhaps the rest of his family caved a little too easily upon hearing where Arnold was now working.  They'd been so pro-chicken-eating before it seemed unlikely that they would stop hunting at the farm just because Arnold was there! 

The story is easy to follow, and is helped along enormously by some lovely illustrations.  The fox family remind me of the Weasleys in Harry Potter since the children all have letters on their hand-knit jumpers, and of course they're red-haired!  Arnold is sweet, and a little bit jaunty with his neckerchief too.  I love the picture of dinner time in the den, with Pa Fox tucking into a chicken leg, and sage and onion stuffing boxes scattered around on the floor!  Poor Arnold is sitting looking a little glum with his sandwich!

I also really like the picture of Arnold riding his bike with his six chicks sitting in the basket at the front.  All the farm animals are gathered around, with some happy little piggies and a mean looking goose!  The story raises some interesting ideas about not necessarily following what your family think and do, although I suspect that's more of a pause for thought for parents than it will be for toddlers.  But it's a fun bedtime read, with the expected happy ending!

For more hen-friendly fox fun you might enjoy [[The Fishing Trip by Beatrice Rodriguez]]

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[[Category:Georgie Adams]]
[[Category:Selina Young]]