Fantastic Mr. Fox, by Roald Dahl

This short book is about Mr. Fox, who lives in a hill with his family.  Mr. Fox regularly steals food from three not-so-nice farmers, until they get fed up and swear to hunt him down.  When the farmers surround Mr. Fox’s hole, his family becomes trapped inside the hill with a very real danger of starving to death.  Mr. Fox has to devise a plan to feed his family…but how can this be done, when escaping the hole is impossible?

I really enjoyed this book, especially the hilarious illustrations by Quentin Blake.  I believe that Mr. Blake provided the illustrations for all of Mr. Dahl’s books, which is awesome because it makes you feel like you’re already a little familiar with the characters, even when you’re picking up a book you haven’t read.  This was the first time that I’d read “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, even though I’ve rest most of Mr. Dahl’s books.  It was so short that it almost felt more like a long story than anything.  I’d recommend this hilarious book as an excellent way to introduce the rest of Mr. Dahl’s work.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the way that Mr. Dahl shaped the plot of story around the crime of stealing.  By placing Mr. Fox as the main character, he almost made it seem like stealing was an acceptable, even admirable, way to support your family!  But what do you think?  Can you think of any times when it might be acceptable to commit a crime like stealing?  Would it make any difference if your family was starving, and you were forced to steal to support them?