The Fox's Kettle

by Laura Langston

Akoya, a village innkeeper, is given a magic kettle by an appreciative samurai fox, but when Akoya is ordered to leave the kettle behind and join the landowner's household, the rice crops fail and the village faces starvation. Simultaneous.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

By the time she hit Grade Four, Laura Langston knew she wanted to be a writer. So did the teachers. It was the persistent daydreaming and invisible friends that tipped them off. Since Laura grew up knowing no writers – and consequently didn’t know how to be one – she became a journalist instead. The trouble is, journalists are expected to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

But making stuff up is way more fun. So eventually Laura traded one notebook for another and today she writes books for tweens, teens, children and sometimes adults.

When she’s not writing, reading or walking her Shetland sheepdogs, Laura can be found spying on people in the grocery store or twisting herself into a pretzel in yoga class. To learn more, visit www.lauralangston.com. Follow her at www.facebook.com/LauraLangston.Author

Reviews

[Andrew Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would you help your village if you needed to? In the story "The Fox's Kettle" it is about a girl named Akoya that comes across a fox dressed as a samurai. Everyone in the village is scared of fox besides Akoya. The Fox asked for food and she feeds him. For being kind to the fox the fox gives her his kettle. The fox told her if she takes good care of the kettle than her village will always be plentiful during the rice harvest. One day 3 foxes jump out of the kettle when she feeds the foxes they turn into 3 working men. A man heard about the story and makes Akoya move to his farm and has to leave the kettle behind the samurai fox then returns but her mother forces him away and the village is given bad luck. The landowner blamed the foxs and sets out to kill them. Akoya then finds a female fox that agrees to shape shift into Akoya and take her place on the landowners arms so Akoya can return to her family's farm and care for the kettle once again. The village then is alive once more. The main genre of this book is fantasy. Some major themes of this book include compassion, bravery, and sacrifice. There is a lot of compassion in this story because when Akoya decides to help the fox when everyone else is scared of him shows that she has compassion to help people or creatures in need. Akoya had a lot of bravery in this story willing to help the fox when everyone is scared of him she still chooses to help him without knowing what could happen. There was also sacrifice in this story because Akoya had to sacrifice her childhood and take care of the kettle for the better of the village when she didn't have to do that and could of watched the village continue to do what they were doing and continue with her childhood but she chose to help. I see this as a WOW book because of how Akoya saw that you can't judge people for how they look just because the fox looked scary when she first saw him doesn't mean he was she gave him and chance and he gave her a chance to save her village. This story builds around community and helping one another when they need it most and I think that people need to learn more about that since nowadays people just mind their own business and dont help when they need it.

A few of the writing craft techniques the author used that enhanced the quality of the writing in this book were character development and suspense. Character development has been a big part in enhancing this story and without it it wouldn't be as impactful the story starts off with a little girl who couldn't do anything to her family or her village but when the opportunity presented itself to help everyone around her she knew what she had to do and grew into the role of the kettle protector to keep the foxes happy and keep the village thriving with rice. Suspense also played a big part in making the story so good without building the suspense when Akoya was taken from her home and taken to a new farm and the village started to struggle without her without the suspense of if she would ever come back made it appealing to the reader and to keep them on the edge of their seat to know what will happen next and anticipate the ending. I would consider this book as anti bias because of the bravery and kindness of the story that Akoya has with anyone who comes across her village. Her being willing to help anyone who comes by no matter how they look and who they are shows that there isn't any bias in this story.

[Tardisgirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but not really my cuppa tea.
And super short.

[Christian Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story is about a women named Akoya who was in charge of watching a black kettle that contained fox's who would watch over the rice fields if she continued to watch over the kettle and take care of the fox's. She unfortunately had to go and move out and couldn't take the kettle with her causing the rice fields to die and the village to struggle, but using her cleverness she figured out a way to make everyone happy in this story. Something I learned while reading this book is to not judge people based off of others stories. Everyone judged the fox's because of the things they heard, they were untrustworthy, and trouble, but Akoya got to know them better then anyone else and found out they were actually nice. Another thing I learned or that children could learn from this book is to not feel pressured to stand your ground, this is shown when Akoya crosses her arms and says "no" to the land owner when he said to teach the village how she controls the rice fields so well. The primary genre of this book is fantasy. This book was a WOW book for me because of the overall story was very intriguing for me and the meaning that was shown throughout.
The authors writing style was very hidden for me at first. I believe the author used many illustrations to keep the reader engaged and to paint a picture of what these things looked like. There was also a bit of imagery involved in the text itself. These literary device contribute to the text in a big way, since it is a fantasy book there is a lot of imagination that's going to play a role in it, and having the illustrations helps people imagine what is happening and provides them with a background to their imagery. This book is free of bias because its talking about how a women and her village are living their lives, it also helps that its a fantasy book so everything is just made up.
This book aligns with the mason core literature requirement through the cultural context because it talks about Akoya's culture and what her village does to survive.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is set in Japan. Akoya, a lovely storyteller who helps in her parents' inn, gives a samurai a meal. He is really a fox, and he gives Akoya a black kettle. The landowner hears of Akoy's storytelling and demands she move to his home, but she has to leave the kettle behind. Because the kettle holds a secret (foxes that are magical) so that the rice crops flourish, and she cannot care for it, the crops fail and the foxes are to be hunted. Satisfying ending.

[Kc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and a bit weird

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining with great illustration