My Yr1 DS is currently ‘studying’ this book in class. I have just read a copy and I do not understand what is going on! It is beautifully illustrated and covered in praise and awards for being a great fable so I am clearly missing something significant. My DH and I come up with three possible explanations. Have you read this book? What do you think the plot actually is?
Our possible theories:
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It is a literal story about a fox, the star is lost and found because the seasons change so leaves obscure his view of the sky in summer. However, if so...why does he hibernate n summer? Why can he only see one star when the trees are bare? (Or is it a different one each time but he thinks it is one and that is the moral). Why is he completely on his own in the first place? Why does he mostly eat beetles?
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It is an allegorical story about how tiny babies love their mothers and get separation anxiety when they go to nursery and then discover that there is a whole world full of other people, which is awesome. However, if so...why is the fox so lonely to start with?
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It is an allegorical story about death. The fox is a cub that has been abandoned and it dies (around the part where it goes underground and loads of beetles appear). It is rewarded with a happy afterlife (basically the little match girl in obfuscated fox format).