Book Review: 'The Fox & The Star'; Coralie Bickford-Smith

Having started to feel a little unwell this morning and knowing that when I'm ill I tend to not feel like reading, I didn't want to leave this book a moment longer so immediately picked it up as my next read. Luckily it was pretty short and I finished in less than ten minutes, giving myself time to appreciate the gorgeous illustrations too! I'm entering this book into the Key Words Challenge also!

SOURCE: Bought
TYPE: Hardcover

TITLE: The Fox & The Star
AUTHOR: Coralie Bickford-Smith
SERIES: --
PUBLISHER: Penguin Books
PAGES: 64
GENRE: Graphic Novel, Children's Fiction, Fantasy

RATING: 4.5/5 Stars

Blurb:
The Fox and the Star is the story of a friendship between a lonely Fox and the Star who guides him through the frightfully dark forest. Illuminated by Star’s rays, Fox forages for food, runs with the rabbits, and dances in the rain—until Star suddenly goes out and life changes, leaving Fox huddling for warmth in the unfamiliar dark. To find his missing Star, Fox must embark on a wondrous journey beyond the world he knows—a journey lit by courage, new-found friends, and just maybe, a star-filled new sky.

What I Liked:

• There is so much to love about this beautiful book! Most of all, the way the illustrations are designed really got to me. I loved them! I've been impressed in the past by Bickford-Smith's Penguin Classic covers, so I had really high hopes for this book and was not disappointed. The hints of William Blake's and William Morris' works are visible though not a carbon copy: Bickford-Smith has her own definitive style for sure. The cover too was beautiful, and though there are few words in this story they meld into the story wonderfully.
• The plot itself was simple and yet thoroughly enchanting. It reminded me of the Fairy Tales I used to love hearing as a child, and I loved it's originality. Despite the fact it is clearly aimed for children, it was still a very heart-warming read for me and at moments tugged on my heartstrings a lot. This is the kind of story that can be enjoyed by an adult too. 

What I Disliked:

• Really there isn't anything much to complain about with this one other than the very short page-count. Such a thing is to be expected in a children's tale but it still stunned me when I finished in such a short space of time. I really wish there was a whole collection of these so that I could read more than one!

Overall Conclusion:

This was a wonderful read that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend for both the target children's audience and adults alike. It's simple story-line and gorgeous pictures will entice any young reader but there is a certain charm that comes with this book that adults will also enjoy. It's very short of course and I rather wish that it had come in the form of a bigger collected works than one single story but this was definitely an experiment gone right on Bickford-Smith's part and I would love to see more of this kind of thing for her. If/when children come into my life, it will be a book I'll thoroughly enjoy reading to them I'm sure!