Foxlight: Winner of the Wainwright Children's Prize 2024
Katya Balen
Subjects
- Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
- Animal Tales - bundles of fur, fluff and fun
- Friends & Family - tears and laughter, and happy ever after
Average rating
- WINNER OF THE 2024 WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CHILDREN’S WRITING *
From the author of October, October, winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal, comes a heartbreaking and heart-warming story about sisterhood, found family and accepting love in the most unusual and unknown places.
Fen and Rey were found curled up small and tight in the fiery fur of the foxes at the very edge of the wildlands. Fen is loud and fierce and free. She feels a connection to foxes and a calling from the wild that she’s desperate to return to. Rey is quiet and shy and an expert on nature. She reads about the birds, feeds the lands and nurtures the world around her.
They are twin sisters. Different and the same. Separate and connected. They will always have each other, even if they don’t have a mother and don’t know their beginning. But they do want answers. Answers to who their mother is and where she might be. What their story is and how it began. So when a fox appears late one night at the house, Fen and Rey see it as a sign – it’s here to lead them to their truth, find their real family and fill the missing piece they have felt since they were born.
But the wildlands are exactly that: wild. They are wicked and cruel and brutal and this journey will be harder and more life changing than either Fen or Rey ever imagined …
Reviews
It's about two kids called Fen and Rae. They want to try and find their mother and they believe in the story that their foster mother told them about foxes. It's an emotional story and an adventure at the same time.
Ringmaster Jet Rubber-duck 12.09.2024
I was inspired to read Foxlight after taking part in a workshop with Katya Balen herself at my school. This book delves into themes of nature, sisterhood and self-discovery. The story follows twin sisters, Fen and Rey, who were found as babies nestled in the fur of foxes at the edge of the wildlands, and now live at the Light House with other children. The plot kicks off when a fox appears at their home, prompting the sisters to embark on a journey to uncover the truth about their mother and their origins. This book’s genre is mostly adventure, as well as hints of horror towards the end. The book was medium-sized for a children’s book, but it was amazingly easy to read. Additionally, ‘Foxlight’ uses amazing alliteration (which is shown here!), which is beneficial for learning new words. My favorite quote was ‘It was luck, I suppose. Lucky for me, lucky for you.’ said by the woman who found Fen and Rey. Fen is yearning to be free in the wild, whereas Rey is determined to find their mother. My favorite character is Rey, because she is not afraid of the truth. This book is worth reading for its high level of tension and suspense, especially in the middle of the book. This book is most likely set in the 1950’s, as only gas lamps existed at the time, according to the book. It is set in a fantastical world, as foxes are transgenic to Fen and Rey. The setting was more clear than fuzzy, but some details are not described as vividly as others. Others may enjoy this book for its perplexing moral, but to fully understand it, you will have to read for yourself! I enjoyed the end, where Fen and Rey return from their quest, as the barbed wire fence is taken down for other children to roam in the wildlands. This book would be an excellent choice for the average adventure reader, as well as some horror lovers. I would say that this book is good for ages of 8 and above. The end, where the horror part of the story started, made me very scared indeed. I give this book 9/10, as the repetition of ‘and’ was incredibly monotonous, but allowed large amounts of information in one sentence.
General Slip Frozen-Peas 23.08.2024
I love this book it's so full of adventure and mystery. It was a very good book, I can see why it got the award. I look forward to reading more books by her.
Baroness Mildred Bookmark 06.07.2024
I liked when they found themselves
Captain Diamond Eragon 25.01.2024
I liked the book because it involved my favourite animal, the fox, and I liked it because it was based all around nature. I liked the character Fen the best because the story was from her point of view and she liked adventure. I would recommend it to someone else.
Sergeant Chip Archer 30.12.2023
