The Fox Wish by Kimiko Aman illustrated by Komako Sakai

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The Fox Wish by Kimiko Aman illustrated by Komako Sakai #ownvoices (2017 US)

by AHK
Sweet and atmospheric, I love this intimate little story about sharing, kindness, and looking out for others. Roxie has forgotten her jump rope, so she and her brother Lukie head back out to find it. They discover a group of foxes playing with the jump rope and join in, playing together until dusk. As Roxie is about to grab her jump rope and head home, a little fox also named Roxie says that the jump rope belongs to her--she found it because of a wish. Instead of reclaiming her property, human Roxie lets the little fox keep the rope and her belief in her wish, simply saying that they should play together again soon. This title doesn't scream "storytime" but it has a straightforward first-person narration that older readers can follow without a lot guidance, and would be great for discussion with smaller PreK groups and classes. Definitely worth adding to your collection.

Themes/topics: foxes, sharing, giving, selflessness, toys, friendship, kindness

Sample text from two spreads: 

The foxes were not very good at jump rope. They were good jumpers, but their tails kept getting caught in the rope. It didn't seem polite to laugh at them, even though they looked so funny. But Lukie couldn't help it. 

At that, the foxes dropped the rope. "What was that?" asked the smallest one. It didn't seem polite to spy on them either, so we tiptoed out from the tree's shadow. "Hi," I said. "Oh, thank heavens!" said a fox. "by any chance might you be able to teach us how to jump rope without tripping?"