Shadow the fox does not trust humans. Well, except for Nan, who feeds her chunks of fish behind a lakeside motel every night. When Nan goes missing, a man from the mysterious Whistlenorth Island comes ashore to seek the aid of Nan’s granddaughter, Bee, whom he thinks is destined not only to help Nan, but also to save Whistlenorth from the greedy and destructive Night Islanders.
The plans go topsy-turvy when it becomes obvious that Bee does not have the magic powers of a chosen one — but Shadow does! Can a fox really rescue an island of people? As Shadow grudgingly comes to trust her new human companions, she and Bee develop a mystical bond, a special connection between human and animal that might be the key to driving the Night Islanders from Whistlenorth for good.
The story is told from Shadow’s point of view, offering a unique perspective and allowing readers to understand how environmental destruction impacts wild animals. Shadow was hunting when a group of men cleared an entire swath of forest and killed Shadow’s mother and sister. Afterwards, Shadow doesn’t want to “like” anyone, especially humans. Shadow’s quest isn’t just about saving the people of Whistlenorth; the fox also has to accept her family’s death and allow others into her heart.
Shadow and Bee discover they have a special magical bond that allows them to hear each other’s thoughts. Bee often comments on Shadow’s thoughts and helps her understand the human world. In addition, Bee gives Shadow confidence by saying, “Don’t you ever doubt yourself! I used to think that being wild was a bad thing, but being wild is the best thing.” In the end, Shadow realizes that she doesn’t need to act human to defeat the Night Islanders. Instead, she needs to think like a fox. This reinforces the idea that Shadow does not need to become a tame pet in order to save Whistlenorth.
Shadow also has a special bond with a bird that she helped hatch. At first, Shadow does not want to care about the bird, but the bird refuses to leave Shadow’s side. Shadow notices the bird is “gazing at me as if I am his everything. I am the sun and the moon and the fish and the stars. Yes, he is just a bird, but he is everything worth fighting for, all wrapped up in feathers.” Shadow’s relationship with the bird and Bee helps Shadow overcome her grief and allows others into her heart. In addition, it is these relationships that give him the ability to save Whistlenorth. In the end, Shadow is motivated to save the isle because it’s the only way to save her friends.
Shadow Fox has a strong environmental focus that helps readers understand the importance of caring for everything “wild.” The death of Shadow’s family highlights what happens when natural areas are destroyed to make room for progress. The environmental focus is seamlessly integrated throughout the book, without being overwhelming or preachy. Bee’s grandmother warns: “‘Make no mistake. If the foxes disappear, if the birds disappear, humans are next. We might still be breathing, we might still be alive, but inside, in here—’ She taps her heart with two fingers. ‘It’s all over.’”
By telling the story from Shadow’s point of view, Sorosiak creates an endearing protagonist that readers will fall in love with. Shadow’s thoughts and actions are consistent with a wild fox, which often brings humor into the story. Shadow often thinks about food—including her favorite food, fish—and this leads to some silly moments. In addition, Shadow makes many references to fish. For example, Shadow describes the wind saying, “It pelts my face like a dead trout. Or a cold, stiff sturgeon.”
Shadow Fox begins by describing the magical islands of Whistlenorth and the dangers presented by the Night Islanders. The worldbuilding is essential; however, it lacks action and suspense. When Shadow and Bee get to the island, the story becomes more interesting and intense. However, the large cast of supporting characters, the complicated plot, and the detailed fight scenes will require readers to pay close attention to the text. Despite this, animal-loving readers will be drawn into Shadow’s adventure and cheer when Shadow not only defeats the Night Islanders but also defeats her fears. For more stories that teach about the importance of caring for our environment, check out Spark by Sarah Beth Durst, Out of My Shell by Jenny Goebel, and the Wild Rescuers Series by Stacy Plays.
Sexual Content
Violence
- Shadow is in a barn when a groundkeeper appears. “One of his gloved hands grips my neck alongside the metal loop, and he lifts me straight into the air.” The man tells Shadow, “I was going to turn you into the wildlife authorities, but maybe I should turn you into a hat.” Shadow uses magic to escape.
- Bee sees bed birds. “They are a famous species. Little blue birds. They sneak through cracked-open windows at night and bite humans, sleeping in their beds.”
- Shadow’s mother and sister were killed when humans took “down a swath of the forest in a day,” and sliced down the trees. Afterwards, Shadow felt “a feeling [she]’d never felt and never want[ed] to feel again. The total loss, that emptiness, the knowledge that nowhere—nowhere out there—were [her] sister and mother breathing. Their breath was smothered out.”
- The Night Islanders are killing everything—plants and animals—to extract magic. A Night Islander wears a “metal cage that’s around his face, just two little holes cut out for eyes, and wearing . . . a beaver hat. The tail dangles along his neck. The matted pelt shrouds his head.”
- Two Night Islanders travel to Whistlenorth with the intent of kidnapping the chosen one. Shadow calls one of the men “the Hunter.” Shadow realizes that the Hunter and other Night Islanders are the ones that killed her family. “The ones with the metal and the smoke and the saws. . . They were Night Islanders!”
- The Hunter grabs Bee. Shadow attacks and “clamp[s] the second attacker’s leg in my jaws. He lets out a single yelping note, louder than a fox, before kicking, kicking, flinging me against the nearest tree. Arching through the air, I hit the bark with a thwomp. . . The blow has me seeing tiny bees, buzzing above my ears. One of my ribs bends inward, bruising but not breaking.”
- To escape the man’s grasp, Bee “opens her mouth and bites the Hunter’s mitten—hard. Another shriek escapes him, voice dark and blooming like blood. . .” Bee is unable to escape, and the Hunter kidnaps her.
- To free Bee, a pack of snow foxes attacks. “Advancing forward, all one hundred of them pounce, paws first, tongue second. Spit flies. Tongues reach out. . . The foxes lick ears. They lick toes. They lick fingers and noses and palms, slurping-slurp.” The foxes’ spit numbs the Night Islanders so they are unable to move.
- Shadow finds Bee. “The sleeve of her sweater is tied around her mouth and nose, blocking her breath. . . her wrists are bound with a strip of fishing net.” The snow foxes surround the Hunter, and he is “pinned in all directions by snouts and teeth.”
- The Night Islanders use their magic to make “spikes rise from the earth. . . They’re taller than the tallest oaks, sharper than thorns.” Shadow, Bee, and the bird are “hemmed in on all sides, like an ice cage.”
- To trap some of the Night Islanders, Shadow uses magic to summon “the canoes from the lakeshore. . . Falling to the earth, they trap a few Night Islanders beneath them.”
- The Night Islanders combine their magic to create a mound of snow that traps Bee, Shadow, and others. “Under the snow-flood, my body wiggles and flits. Thrashing, flaying! . . . And my breath has nowhere to go! The snow is packed so tightly. . . The Hunter and the Night Islanders. . .. They’ve summoned all the snow from the island to bury us alive.” Everyone escapes.
- The only way to defeat the Night Islanders is to take their magic. The bird uses magic to make a flock of birds out of snow. The birds disappear and reappear inside of the Night Islanders’ stomachs. “The Hunter shrieks, hippity-hopping on his toes. Now the other Night Islanders are clutching their stomachs, massaging their throats, beating their chests.”
- Once the birds have collected all of the magic from the Night Islanders’ stomachs, “the birds reappear as a flock. . . a little bit melted at the tips of their feathers but roughly intact. Their bellies bulge with magic. . . waddling calmly away.” The Night Islanders return to their isle.
Drugs and Alcohol
Language
- A man calls Shadow a “good-for-nothing.”
- When learning that the fox and Bee don’t swim, a man yells, “Fish sticks almighty.” “Fish sticks” is used as an exclamation four times.
- Bee uses “jeez” as an exclamation twice.
- Shadow uses magic, causing a dining room table, table settings, and hundreds of fish to appear suddenly. Nan exclaims, “Oh, holy herring in cream sauce.”
- When a Night Islander wakes up to the smell of fox urine, he yells, “What the—.”
Supernatural
- Magic is prevalent throughout the book, so not every instance is listed below. Some people have magic that allows them to summon things. Shadow can “change smoke into tiny foxes and summon cans of pudding. Not so intimidating. Unless, I suppose, you’re afraid of pudding. Or aluminum.”
- Some people are cultivators. “We make things grow. Or shrink them. Some can even take an object and reshape it into something else. . . Like pudding cans into teaspoons.”
- Bee reads a book of predictions written by a woman who “had a knack for predicting the future, but she didn’t get it right all the time.” There are several general predictions. One says that Beatrice Shadowen from Minnesota, US, “will be chosen by nature to save the island from the magical extinction.”
- Nan explains where magic comes from. She says, “The magic comes from nature: the trees, the rivers, the soil. Think of it like oxygen. We breathe in magic, then breathe it out—intentionally—to make something happen.”
- Magic allows Bee and Shadow to hear each other’s thoughts and allows Shadow to understand human speech. Bee tells Shadow, “It’s not like I asked for this power. . . You got most of the magic, but—somehow—I got the power to understand you.” It also allows Shadow to read human books.
- After the groundkeeper captures Shadow, the fox becomes warm. “My belly prickles with the heat.” The fox becomes so hot that the “groundkeeper shrieks, his hand unclenching. . .” Somehow, Shadow had turned the groundkeeper’s gloves into pumpkin soup. Afterwards, “the groundkeeper is murmuring, examining his hands, which are slick with hot orange goop.” Both Shadow and the groundkeeper are confused about how the gloves changed.
- Shadow has a habit of taking people’s shoes. While in the barn with the groundkeeper, “one of my shoes is hovering in the air. . . Then another one. A bright-blue flip-flop, suspended like a hummingbird.” The groundkeeper runs away before seeing the shoes “circling the air before stacking all around [Shadow], a tower on four sides. With a flip-flop roof!”
- A swarm of bed birds surrounds Shadow, making her skin tingle. “Tiny sprigs of fur are beginning to sprout. Midnight-black tufts grow and rush over the paw. On my belly, too, is a feeling. A feeling like lying in the sun.” When the birds leave, Shadow’s fur is full and healthy.
- When Shadow thinks of fish toast, it appears. “A slice of white bread, smothered in lake-trout paste. It just. . .appears, right by my paws. Without thinking, I shove the toast in my mouth. . .”
- Shadow helps a bird hatch, and the bird imprints on the fox. Later, Shadow discovers that the bird has magic. The bird can disappear and reappear somewhere else. The bird can also transport others.
- While practicing her magic, Shadow makes a spoon grow. The spoon gets so big that “soon, it’ll be punching a hole in the houseboat. . . The houseboat creaks again, this time from the pressure of the spoon. It’s bending, metal thrusting against the rafters. . .” With Nan’s help, Shadow shrinks the spoon to its normal size.
- To help fight the Night Islanders, Shadow conjures dozens of foxes made of snow. Some are “spikier, with pine needles sticking from their snow like hackles.” To get to the Night Isle, the bird transports Shadow and the snow foxes.
Spiritual Content
