Sarah Franco portrays the ache, confusion, and fear of 11-year-old Sam as she processes the trauma of past abuse. After being relocated to her aunt’s house, Sam finds a fascinating card game. She discovers that the fox and squirrels in the game are real, and if she wins, the fox, Ashander, will grant her a wish. But, as the timid squirrels remind her, the game has strict rules that involve placating Ashander and submitting to his increasingly cruel demands. With a slow pace and a deliberate tone that becomes more animated as the plot gains momentum, Franco seamlessly pulls listeners from Sam’s fearful inner reality into an allegorical fantasy world and back to the unfamiliar safety of her new life with caring adults. S.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
A Game of Fox & Squirrels
Narrated by Sarah Franco
Jenn ReeseUnabridged — 6 hours, 4 minutes
A Game of Fox & Squirrels
Narrated by Sarah Franco
Jenn ReeseUnabridged — 6 hours, 4 minutes
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Overview
Andre Norton Award finalist Jenn Reese explores the often thin line between magic and reality, light and darkness in her enchanting middle grade standalone.
After an incident shatters their family, eleven-year old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live in rural Oregon with an aunt they've never met. Sam wants nothing more than to go back to the way things were¿ before she spoke up about their father's anger.
When Aunt Vicky gives Sam a mysterious card game called "A Game of Fox & Squirrels," Sam falls in love with the animal characters, especially the charming trickster fox, Ashander. Then one day Ashander shows up in Sam's room and offers her an adventure and a promise: find the Golden Acorn, and Sam can have anything she desires.
But the fox is hiding rules that Sam isn't prepared for, and her new home feels more tempting than she'd ever expected. As Sam is swept up in the dangerous quest, the line between magic and reality grows thin. If she makes the wrong move, she'll lose far more than just a game.
Perfect for fans of Barbara O'Connor, Lauren Wolk, and Ali Benjamin, A Game of Fox & Squirrels is a stunning, heartbreaking novel about a girl who finds the light in the darkness... and ultimately discovers the true meaning of home.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company
"Brings to life, viscerally, what it is like to live in fear of abuse-even after the abuse itself is over. But there is magic here too, and the promise of a better future that comes with learning to let people who care about you into your world." -Alan Gratz, New York Times-bestselling author of Refugee
“A captivating and touching story¿ both whimsical and emotionally-sometimes frighteningly-compelling.” -Ingrid Law, Newbery Honor-winning author of Savvy
"Magically creative and deeply honest, A Game of Fox & Squirrels merges games and grimness in a fantasy tale that tells the truth." -Elana K. Arnold, Printz Honor-winning author of Damsel and A Boy Called Bat
Editorial Reviews
★ 03/16/2020
Reese (the Above World series) sketches a poignant fantastical allegory focusing on the desperate tolls exacted by mental and physical abuse. When their father breaks Caitlin’s arm, 13-year-old Caitlin and her 11-year-old sister, Samantha, are relocated from their parents’ Los Angeles home to rural Oregon, where they will stay indefinitely with their estranged paternal aunt, Vicky, and Vicky’s wife, Hannah. Despite the impossible rules and systems that she and Caitlin have grown up navigating, Sam can’t understand why they have to “visit” Oregon; her favorite books have taught her that “heroes always home.” After receiving the titular card game from Aunt Vicky, Sam is surprised when a wily fox named Ashander, as well as his emissaries, three friendly anthropomorphic squirrels, appear, offering her heart’s desire—for a steep price. Yet Oregon isn’t horrible, and Sam must decide whether fulfilling the fox’s escalating ultimatums is worth disrupting the stable, love-filled life Caitlin and Sam are settling into. The accessible narrative presents generational trauma and its echoes unflinchingly, encouraging readers in similar situations to seek community and help from trusted adults. An author’s note leads to a website with resources; final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–14. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary. (Apr.)
Evanston Public Library Best of the Year Pick
“Beautifully written...Reese’s pairing of a realistic depiction of lived trauma with its allegorical-fantasy reflection proves stunningly effective.” –Kirkus, Starred Review
"A poignant fantastical allegory... that presents generational trauma and its echoes unflinchingly." –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
"Reese spins a tale about child abuse that is touched with fantasy...a powerful tool for working through trauma." –Booklist
"An engaging blend of genres...dealing with realistic issues that will be a solid addition to elementary or middle school libraries." –School Library Journal
"It’s satisfying to watch Sam move from obedience born of self-preservation to being able to defy Ashander in order to protect others...the sympathetic heroine makes this a likable read with broad appeal." —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Once in an age, you read a book that is so true and so lovely that it's as if your own bruised and hopeful heart had come sailing into your hands in book form. A Game of Fox & Squirrels is that book for me. It is perfect. Sometimes magic happens: we needed this story in our world, and now it is here." —Anne Nesbet, author of The Cabinet of Earths and Daring Darleen
"Hauntingly beautiful, funny, dark and true, and so full of magic and heart. This story will stay with me forever." —Stephanie Burgis, author of The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart
"Jenn Reese is masterful in her delicate rendering of a vulnerable child navigating the boundaries of family loyalty. The story will quietly burrow its way into the hearts of the children who need it, inspiring bravery and truth. Unforgettable." —Tracy Holczer, author of Everything Else in the Universe
"An important, moving book about resilience in the face of abuse, and about emerging from a very dark place into hope." —Sarah Prineas, author of Dragonfell
"The way Jenn Reese illuminates a path to hope through dark times is what makes this book essential reading." —Greg van Eekhout, author of Voyage of the Dogs
“A Game of Fox & Squirrels overflows with courage, and it’s willing to share.” —William Alexander, National Book Award-winning author of Goblin Secrets
03/27/2020
Gr 5–8—An engaging blend of genres that will be different from most novels on middle grade shelves. Reese's latest blurs the lines of real and fantastical in the everyday world. Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live with an aunt they hardly know following a domestic violence incident. Both sisters are dealing with the move and the changes that surround them. When Samantha receives a gift of a board game called "Fox & Squirrels," her curiosity prompts her to open the box on the first night. After she opens it, Samantha starts to see the game characters in her real world. She must follow the rules of the game and complete the tasks asked of her to win a wish for anything she desires. She must decide how far she will go to grasp this ultimate prize. Reese blends intriguing fantasy elements with a realistic fiction plot. As the story progresses, clues are revealed about what was actually happening in the sisters' lives at home. At the same time, readers are drawn into the fantasy world of the game. The plot gains momentum as the mysteries of both the realistic elements and the fantasy world entwine. Readers who enjoyed Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane or Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan will want to play this dangerous game with Samantha. VERDICT A middle grade fantasy dealing with realistic issues that will be a solid addition to elementary or middle school libraries where either genre circulates well.—Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East High School, IL
Sarah Franco portrays the ache, confusion, and fear of 11-year-old Sam as she processes the trauma of past abuse. After being relocated to her aunt’s house, Sam finds a fascinating card game. She discovers that the fox and squirrels in the game are real, and if she wins, the fox, Ashander, will grant her a wish. But, as the timid squirrels remind her, the game has strict rules that involve placating Ashander and submitting to his increasingly cruel demands. With a slow pace and a deliberate tone that becomes more animated as the plot gains momentum, Franco seamlessly pulls listeners from Sam’s fearful inner reality into an allegorical fantasy world and back to the unfamiliar safety of her new life with caring adults. S.C. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
★ 2020-01-21
A preteen confronts the child abuse that’s shaped her world through a mysterious game, alluring and terrifying, with rules that are all too familiar.
After Sam, 11, panicked and revealed the child abuse that left older sister Caitlin with a broken arm, the girls were sent to live with Aunt Vicky and her wife, Hannah, in rural Oregon. (The girls and their aunt are white; Hannah has a Chinese surname.) While Caitlin, 13, gratefully adapts, Sam wants only to return to their parents. A gift from Vicky, the Game of Fox & Squirrels, could help with that. The squirrels and fox on the cards, she discovers, have real-life counterparts. The flamboyant fox Ashander feeds Sam’s hopes, testing her loyalty; she must earn her right to go home. What begins as a hero’s journey degenerates into cruel demands. His minions, three timid squirrels, urge Sam to placate him, but she realizes she must look elsewhere to find courage to resist. Sam moves between the game world—with its chillingly familiar rules and seductive, but invariably broken, promises—and the real, but unfamiliar, world of peaceable, dependable adults. Reese’s pairing of a realistic depiction of lived trauma with its allegorical-fantasy reflection proves stunningly effective in conveying PTSD. The abuse is portrayed indirectly, through its long-term effect on victims. Fear digs deep grooves in the psyche—Sam and Caitlin are on perpetual alert. Beautifully written, this is noeasy read; crucially, an author’s note addresses real-life abuseand directs readers to the book’s website, which offers resourcesfor help.
A haunting tale that brings the traumatic aftermath of family violence into focus with unsparing clarity. (Fiction. 10-14)
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940177108926 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Macmillan Audio |
| Publication date: | 10/13/2020 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
| Age Range: | 10 - 13 Years |
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