Kids find fox, angst ensues

February 9, 2013 1:02 PM

[BookFilter] Help me find this children's book about a fox that turns out to not be a fox after all!

This is probably a long shot, but I would greatly appreciate some help in tracking down a book I read years ago. Keep in mind that I read this while I was in primary school after finding it in a pile of books in the school's library - I've never seen it or heard of it since, so it's probably not very well known.

The book is about two kids (possibly in England?) who find a baby fox and decide to look after it. The problem is that they live on a farm and are afraid that the fox will be killed if it's found, so they hide it somewhere. I seem to remember the 'somewhere' being an old ruin of some kind, but I may just be making that up.

In the end, it turns out that the 'fox' is actually an unusual-looking puppy. Other notable incidents involve an attempt to sell a valuable telescope at a pawn shop in order to raise money for food for the fox.

For some reason, the book has really stuck with me all these years (I remember the mood being fairly sombre, which took me by surprise at the time), so I'd love to track down a copy and read it again. Hopefully someone here either remembers it or has more luck than me at finding it!

posted by anaximander to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

I know this book, I would have read it as a child around the same time as you! Except I don't remember the telescope bit (not that it didn't happen, I just don't remember it.) I'm now racking my brains. Was the fox/puppy called Rusty? I also have the idea this book was actually reasonably popular or famous, maybe made into a movie. I will keep looking!
posted by Jubey at 2:54 PM on February 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hotel for Dogs, by Lois Duncan (nothing about a fox, a farm, or England though)?
posted by phonebia at 6:25 PM on February 9, 2013

Little Dog Lost by Rene Guillot?
posted by atlantica at 7:08 PM on February 9, 2013

Response by poster:

Was the fox/puppy called Rusty?

I can't remember, but it may well have been! Now that you mention it, I definitely remember the characters naming it.

And it's not either of the two other books mentioned, alas. The title wouldn't have had 'dog' in the title, because you only find out that it's a dog right at the end. It may have had the word 'fox' in the title, though.
posted by anaximander at 2:11 AM on February 10, 2013

Hmm, could it be Paul, Sally and the Fox Cub? Unfortunately I couldn't find a better plot summary but it might jog your memory?
posted by atlantica at 6:59 AM on February 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Ok, I think this is it: Fox Farm by Eileen Dunlop (second one down describes having to hide it). It doesn't say it there, but here (page 2), it says the fox cub turns out to be a dog.
posted by atlantica at 7:14 AM on February 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: atlantica, that's it! I even remember the top cover. Weird that it's published by Oxford University Press, of all people.

Thanks for the help!
posted by anaximander at 9:24 AM on February 10, 2013