Jane, the Fox & Me

A graphic novel about bullying, body image and the transformative power of fiction.

H l ne has been inexplicably ostracized by the girls who were once her friends. Her school life is full of whispers and lies -- H l ne weighs 216; she smells like BO. Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, H l ne has one consolation, Charlotte Bront 's Jane Eyre. H l ne identifies strongly with Jane's tribulations, and when she is lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her tormentors. But when H l ne is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.

Leaving the outcasts' tent one night, H l ne encounters a fox, a beautiful creature with whom she shares a moment of connection. But when Suzanne Lipsky frightens the fox away, insisting that it must be rabid, H l ne's despair becomes even more pronounced: now she believes that only a diseased and dangerous creature would ever voluntarily approach her. But then a new girl joins the outcasts' circle, G raldine, who does not even appear to notice that she is in danger of becoming an outcast herself. And before long H l ne realizes that the less time she spends worrying about what the other girls say is wrong with her, the more able she is to believe that there is nothing wrong at all.

This emotionally honest and visually stunning graphic novel reveals the casual brutality of which children are capable, but also assures readers that redemption can be found through connecting with another, whether the other is a friend, a fictional character or even, amazingly, a fox.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Published: 09/01/2013
ISBN: 9781554983605
Pages: 101
Weight: 1.55lbs
Size: 11.30h x 8.60w x 0.60d
Award: Libris Awards - Winner

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 07/15/2013
Kirkus Reviews 08/01/2013
Quill & Quire 09/01/2013 pg. 36
New York Times Book Review 08/25/2013 pg. 15
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 11/01/2013 pg. 140 - Book Of Special Distinction
Booklist 10/15/2013 pg. 39
School Library Journal 11/01/2013 pg. 121
New York Times Book Review 11/10/2013 pg. 31
Horn Book Magazine 01/01/2014 pg. 85
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2014 pg. 70 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 160435 / Jane, the Fox & Me
Reading Level: 4.1 / Interest Level: Middle Grade Plus / Point Value: 0.5