Margaret Thompson (2) (1940–)

When Striker, Anna's Jack Russell terrier, escapes from the house one cold winter morning, following her to the bus-stop and running out onto the icy road, the resultant car accident brings tragedy. Anna must face the death of her beloved companion, but she must also contend with social ostracism, as the accident, for which she is blamed by some of her peers, took the school's star hockey player out of commission, perhaps permanently. Already at something of a disadvantage, as she and her family had only recently moved to the area from Vancouver, Anna enters a "strange waiting time," in which she feels frozen, unable to progress either personally or socially. Then one day an injured fox appears outside her window, and Anna's efforts to help him lead to an improvement in her own situation as well...

Published by Hodgepog Books, a small independent press in Vancouver, Fox Winter is a tale that manages to pack quite an emotional punch, despite its brevity. Only sixty-eight pages, it still manages to involve the reader in Anna's story, which is presented realistically, and without sentiment. Thompson explores some "harsh realities," as the back-cover blurb states, from the death of a beloved animal friend to the bullying that an unpopular child sometimes faces at a new school, as she chronicles the journey of a young girl through the grieving process. It is a process made more complicated by Anna's feeling that she is responsible for the accident - if she hadn't been in a rush that day, if she hadn't accidentally allowed Striker to escape - but helped along (as is so often the case) by her efforts to aid another. As someone with an interest in the depiction of foxes in children's fiction (one of my areas of research), I was struck by the fact that it is an injured fox which precipitates the much-needed healing and rapprochement in the story. Although not widely available, this slim Canadian chapter-book is well worth tracking down!… (mehr)