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Fox in a Trap: A Compelling Middle Grade Tale About an Uncle Teaching Outdoor Life for Kids
Daniel is excited by Uncle Pete's glamorous life as an outdoorsman and a writer, until his uncle teaches him how to trap foxes.
78 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1987
14 people want to read
About the author
Jane Resh Thomas
19 books5 followersJane Resh Thomas has written more than a dozen fiction and nonfiction books for young readers, including the highly praised Behind the Mask for Clarion. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 19, 2020
Michigan farm-boy Daniel longs to be more like his Uncle Pete in this short chapter-book exploration of the ethics of animal hunting and trapping, and the different paths people choose, in their relationship to the land. Secretly resentful of the ceaseless, back-breaking labor involved in running the family peach orchard, and envious of his uncle's seemingly desirable lifestyle, as a far-traveling writer working for a fishing and hunting magazine, Daniel yearns to break free of his father's expectations, and lead a life of adventure, rather than tying himself down to one place. But when he convinces his uncle to join him in a scheme to set out a winter trap-line for the local foxes, Daniel discovers that perhaps he has more of his father in him than he thought, and that trapping isn't for him...
At a brief seventy-eight pages, Fox in a Trap is a fairly simple story, one which centers on the resolution of a familial crisis. Although they love one another, it is clear that there is tension between Uncle Pete, who, despite his fondness for his childhood home, has no interest in the hard work necessary to run the orchard, and Daniel's father, who can conceive of no other life, and who has no stomach for hunting or trapping foxes (although he apparently does hunt deer). Daniel is caught somewhere between the two, determined to prove he does have the stomach for trapping. His discovery that 'having the stomach' is not necessarily synonymous with courage, and that he might be able to find a middle road between his father and his uncle's path, form the crux of the story's resolution. Although Thomas does a good job setting up her story, and involving the reader in her protagonist's struggle, I felt that her resolution came too easily. In a few pages, what could have been a very unhappy situation with long-lasting consequences, is amicably resolved, and the seeds of family peace are sown. After the rather visceral depiction of the trapping and killing of a fox, and Daniel's resultant misery, as he considers the similarities between foxes and his beloved dogs, as well as the difficulties of backing away from a project he himself actively sought to promote, somehow the quick resolution felt a little convenient. That said, Fox in a Trap does have value as an exploration of issues of family and home, agriculture and animal hunting/trapping, and young people figuring out what path to follow. I picked it up largely because of the connection to foxes - the depiction of our vulpine friends in children's fiction being an interest of mine - but there's really little here about the foxes themselves. It is readers with an interest in the themes mentioned above who will find it most interesting, and it is to them I would recommend it.
At a brief seventy-eight pages, Fox in a Trap is a fairly simple story, one which centers on the resolution of a familial crisis. Although they love one another, it is clear that there is tension between Uncle Pete, who, despite his fondness for his childhood home, has no interest in the hard work necessary to run the orchard, and Daniel's father, who can conceive of no other life, and who has no stomach for hunting or trapping foxes (although he apparently does hunt deer). Daniel is caught somewhere between the two, determined to prove he does have the stomach for trapping. His discovery that 'having the stomach' is not necessarily synonymous with courage, and that he might be able to find a middle road between his father and his uncle's path, form the crux of the story's resolution. Although Thomas does a good job setting up her story, and involving the reader in her protagonist's struggle, I felt that her resolution came too easily. In a few pages, what could have been a very unhappy situation with long-lasting consequences, is amicably resolved, and the seeds of family peace are sown. After the rather visceral depiction of the trapping and killing of a fox, and Daniel's resultant misery, as he considers the similarities between foxes and his beloved dogs, as well as the difficulties of backing away from a project he himself actively sought to promote, somehow the quick resolution felt a little convenient. That said, Fox in a Trap does have value as an exploration of issues of family and home, agriculture and animal hunting/trapping, and young people figuring out what path to follow. I picked it up largely because of the connection to foxes - the depiction of our vulpine friends in children's fiction being an interest of mine - but there's really little here about the foxes themselves. It is readers with an interest in the themes mentioned above who will find it most interesting, and it is to them I would recommend it.
May 21, 2020
So tell me, my dear friends, why would anyone want to read a book where kittens are used as bait!?!? It is cruel, terrible, and horrible. That said, that is the part that is seriously frowned at by the main character. But it wasn't at all fun to read about.
The book was short, and I do think that it was time that I read it. It only took me less than an hour, I think, to read the 78 pages. But I've had this book for years, I don't know where I got it, and I don't remember when I got it. All I know is that I never wanted to read it because the back cover said that they used kittens as bait.
The reason that I gave this book two stars and not one is because our main character, Daniel, doesn't like the trapping and isn't viewed as weak for it.
Also, Daniel's 10 years old!!! He doesn't need to do the trapping, but he wants to. Why? I really have no idea.
The book was short, and I do think that it was time that I read it. It only took me less than an hour, I think, to read the 78 pages. But I've had this book for years, I don't know where I got it, and I don't remember when I got it. All I know is that I never wanted to read it because the back cover said that they used kittens as bait.
The reason that I gave this book two stars and not one is because our main character, Daniel, doesn't like the trapping and isn't viewed as weak for it.
Also, Daniel's 10 years old!!! He doesn't need to do the trapping, but he wants to. Why? I really have no idea.
October 2, 2019
Comparable to Shiloh and other books of a certain time, this is a fast read. Under a hundred pages long! It's simple, it's a bit unrealistic or maybe just enough.
Daniel's a farm child, his mom and dad expect him to be one, they're farm workers themselves, they express slight disappointment in his uncle for not being one. There is some uncomfortable peer pressure.
Dated in the eighties, this follows fox trapping only it doesn't quite have a conflict. It's worth a quick read and put back, really it sounds like it could be much more interesting than it is.
Even so, having said that, it's not a book I'd suggest passing up. Just a piece of history albeit uglier and with more dead kittens.
Daniel's a farm child, his mom and dad expect him to be one, they're farm workers themselves, they express slight disappointment in his uncle for not being one. There is some uncomfortable peer pressure.
Dated in the eighties, this follows fox trapping only it doesn't quite have a conflict. It's worth a quick read and put back, really it sounds like it could be much more interesting than it is.
Even so, having said that, it's not a book I'd suggest passing up. Just a piece of history albeit uglier and with more dead kittens.
May 16, 2011
Thoughtful, realistic, and well-written, Fox in a Trap belongs alongside Shiloh in rural-themed humane literature.
The young protagonist, Daniel, eagerly awaits a visit from his Uncle Pete, an outdoor writer and world traveler he clearly idolizes. Uncle Pete is an avid hunter and has regaled Daniel with many stories of his conquests. Best of all, in Daniel’s mind, his uncle has promised to take him trapping for the first time.
Daniel’s father is a patient man who prefers working on his farm to his brother’s tales of derring-do. Nevertheless, he sees how excited Daniel is to set his first trap. He imparts his own values gently to his son, but ultimately lets Daniel make his own decision.
“On the whole, I’d rather not interfere with the foxes,” said Pa, “as long as they don’t interfere with me. Their overpopulation would level out naturally, if we gave it a couple of years.”
Unperturbed, Daniel sets out to capture foxes on the family farm with his uncle. He awaits his first catch with baited breath, but Daniel’s eagerness subsides when he actually traps a fox. Uncle Pete does the dirty work of killing the animal. The book’s description of this is not overly graphic, but is accurate of a common method trappers use to kill their quarry. Pete raps the fox with a club to drop him, and then stands on the fox’s body to finish the job via suffocation.
Daniel is quietly horrified and has to leave the scene. The following days are ones of confusion. If he tells Uncle Pete he doesn’t want to trap anymore, will his beloved uncle take offense or think less of him? However, can he keep doing this thing he now feels in his heart is wrong?
There’s a great scene in which Daniel ponders the foot of his beloved dog, Lady, with the obvious extension of what a delicate canine foot might experience in a trap:
Inside her foot, he should feel little chains of jointed bones like his finger. They were connected to other bones like his hand, and even to something like his wrist.
Daniel turns to his wise father on how to break it to Uncle Pete he no longer wishes to trap. Pa tells him gently:
“There are all kinds of courage, Daniel.”
Daniel is surprised to find that Uncle Dan is not at all angered or disappointed in him. Uncle Pete admits,
“The older I get, the more this kind of suffering bothers me…I can’t stomach trapping anymore myself.”
(This goes along with the demographic data that indicate that as sportsmen age, actual participation in killing animals tends to decline.) Some readers will no doubt be disappointed by Daniel’s apparently positive response to Pete’s offer to take him hunting and fishing (but not trapping) sometime in the future. However, one gets the idea that kindhearted Daniel, once he sees these activities up close, won’t be too impressed with them, either. Maybe he’ll even teach Uncle Daniel a lesson.
One gets the sense that some of the incidents in this book are partially autobiographical. The author’s bio notes that she helped her father trap foxes in her childhood.
Overall, Fox in a Trap is a wonderful and nonjudgmental little book that should find a place in rural libraries especially.
The young protagonist, Daniel, eagerly awaits a visit from his Uncle Pete, an outdoor writer and world traveler he clearly idolizes. Uncle Pete is an avid hunter and has regaled Daniel with many stories of his conquests. Best of all, in Daniel’s mind, his uncle has promised to take him trapping for the first time.
Daniel’s father is a patient man who prefers working on his farm to his brother’s tales of derring-do. Nevertheless, he sees how excited Daniel is to set his first trap. He imparts his own values gently to his son, but ultimately lets Daniel make his own decision.
“On the whole, I’d rather not interfere with the foxes,” said Pa, “as long as they don’t interfere with me. Their overpopulation would level out naturally, if we gave it a couple of years.”
Unperturbed, Daniel sets out to capture foxes on the family farm with his uncle. He awaits his first catch with baited breath, but Daniel’s eagerness subsides when he actually traps a fox. Uncle Pete does the dirty work of killing the animal. The book’s description of this is not overly graphic, but is accurate of a common method trappers use to kill their quarry. Pete raps the fox with a club to drop him, and then stands on the fox’s body to finish the job via suffocation.
Daniel is quietly horrified and has to leave the scene. The following days are ones of confusion. If he tells Uncle Pete he doesn’t want to trap anymore, will his beloved uncle take offense or think less of him? However, can he keep doing this thing he now feels in his heart is wrong?
There’s a great scene in which Daniel ponders the foot of his beloved dog, Lady, with the obvious extension of what a delicate canine foot might experience in a trap:
Inside her foot, he should feel little chains of jointed bones like his finger. They were connected to other bones like his hand, and even to something like his wrist.
Daniel turns to his wise father on how to break it to Uncle Pete he no longer wishes to trap. Pa tells him gently:
“There are all kinds of courage, Daniel.”
Daniel is surprised to find that Uncle Dan is not at all angered or disappointed in him. Uncle Pete admits,
“The older I get, the more this kind of suffering bothers me…I can’t stomach trapping anymore myself.”
(This goes along with the demographic data that indicate that as sportsmen age, actual participation in killing animals tends to decline.) Some readers will no doubt be disappointed by Daniel’s apparently positive response to Pete’s offer to take him hunting and fishing (but not trapping) sometime in the future. However, one gets the idea that kindhearted Daniel, once he sees these activities up close, won’t be too impressed with them, either. Maybe he’ll even teach Uncle Daniel a lesson.
One gets the sense that some of the incidents in this book are partially autobiographical. The author’s bio notes that she helped her father trap foxes in her childhood.
Overall, Fox in a Trap is a wonderful and nonjudgmental little book that should find a place in rural libraries especially.
July 11, 2014
Daniel Beckman, not quite ten, lives with his Pa and Mama and his new dog Lady on a farm in Michigan. He finds farm life boring and is excited by his Uncle Pete's glamorous life as an outdoorsman and a writer, going whale hunting in Alaska and tarpon fishing in Florida. Some foxes begin raiding the chickens, and Daniel is angered when his father says that he will not like trapping, thinking his father believes him to be too young and irresponsible, so he asks Uncle Pete to help him set up a trap line. But what will Daniel think when he learns that they will be using dead kittens for bait? And how will he react when they find a chewed-off fox paw in one of the traps that looks almost exactly like Lady’s paw?
Said to be a sequel to Thomas's The Comeback Dog (1981) which I have not read, this book, in which Daniel’s introduction to trapping occasions some unsettling questions, might seem on the surface to be anti-hunting, but at the end Uncle Pete says that hunting and fishing aren’t necessarily as cruel as leg-hold traps, and they all enjoy eating venison sausage from a big buck that Pa had killed. However, it is definitely anti-trapping, so whether one likes the book or not will largely depend on his view of animal trapping. Aside from this issue, it is interesting to see how Daniel develops and matures as he confronts the realities of having to kill the animals trapped by his snares and also as he reevaluates his relationships with his father and his uncle.
Said to be a sequel to Thomas's The Comeback Dog (1981) which I have not read, this book, in which Daniel’s introduction to trapping occasions some unsettling questions, might seem on the surface to be anti-hunting, but at the end Uncle Pete says that hunting and fishing aren’t necessarily as cruel as leg-hold traps, and they all enjoy eating venison sausage from a big buck that Pa had killed. However, it is definitely anti-trapping, so whether one likes the book or not will largely depend on his view of animal trapping. Aside from this issue, it is interesting to see how Daniel develops and matures as he confronts the realities of having to kill the animals trapped by his snares and also as he reevaluates his relationships with his father and his uncle.
January 27, 2014
A humane message against animal trapping. However, I found it quite dry, so it might not be interesting to children - the intended audience.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews