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Outfoxed
“A ‘quacker-jack’ addition to a duck- or fox-themed storytime.” —BCCB “Large word bubbles make reading easy…Don’t be outfoxed. Get quacking and buy this book.” —School Library Journal Quack, quack—woof? A quick-thinking duck keeps a fox on his toes in this witty romp from a New Yorker cartoonist.One dark night in the henhouse, a hungry fox in search of his dinner gets more than he bargains for. Instead of a chicken, Fox grabs a duck. A very smart duck. A duck so sly, he plans to convince Fox that he isn’t a duck but a—dog! Yes, a dog. This clever story and its accompanying visual narrative will delight readers young and old—because if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it HAS to be a duck…right?
40 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2013
114 people want to read
About the author
Mike Twohy
10 books10 followersMIKE TWOHY
Cartoonist Mike Twohy has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine for over three decades. He has also drawn cartoons for a wide variety of other publications (from Ranger Rick to The National Law Journal) and created a syndicated panel, That’s Life, which found humor in everyday situations. The most recent of several books he has illustrated is titled Teaching Opera, the Role of the Opera Workshop, a project close to his heart since his wife, Linda, is a violinist in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and he became an opera fan years ago.
A compulsive doodler from an early age, Mike’s career actually began when, as a kid growing up in Northern California, he wrote and illustrated a neighborhood newspaper complete with full comics page, each strip drawn in a different style. In high school he drew a weekly sports cartoon for The Palo Alto Times and later, while majoring in art at San Jose State University, worked as an illustrator of math and reading workbooks. He went on to earn an M.F.A. degree in painting from the University of California at Berkeley with the intention of continuing to paint and possibly teach, but became addicted to freelancing after selling his first cartoons to magazines.
Mike became an avid storyteller when his children were young, entertaining them nightly with bedtime stories and daily with “funky chicken” lunchbox cartoons. His first picture book is scheduled to be released by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster in the Spring of 2011 and is about a shy pig named Poindexter who likes to read.
He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, cat, and Newfoundland.
PIPPIN PROPERTIES, INC. 155 EAST 38TH STREET, SUITE 2H NEW YORK, NY 10016 212 338 9310
Cartoonist Mike Twohy has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine for over three decades. He has also drawn cartoons for a wide variety of other publications (from Ranger Rick to The National Law Journal) and created a syndicated panel, That’s Life, which found humor in everyday situations. The most recent of several books he has illustrated is titled Teaching Opera, the Role of the Opera Workshop, a project close to his heart since his wife, Linda, is a violinist in the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and he became an opera fan years ago.
A compulsive doodler from an early age, Mike’s career actually began when, as a kid growing up in Northern California, he wrote and illustrated a neighborhood newspaper complete with full comics page, each strip drawn in a different style. In high school he drew a weekly sports cartoon for The Palo Alto Times and later, while majoring in art at San Jose State University, worked as an illustrator of math and reading workbooks. He went on to earn an M.F.A. degree in painting from the University of California at Berkeley with the intention of continuing to paint and possibly teach, but became addicted to freelancing after selling his first cartoons to magazines.
Mike became an avid storyteller when his children were young, entertaining them nightly with bedtime stories and daily with “funky chicken” lunchbox cartoons. His first picture book is scheduled to be released by Paula Wiseman Books/Simon & Schuster in the Spring of 2011 and is about a shy pig named Poindexter who likes to read.
He lives in Berkeley, California with his wife, cat, and Newfoundland.
PIPPIN PROPERTIES, INC. 155 EAST 38TH STREET, SUITE 2H NEW YORK, NY 10016 212 338 9310
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
November 26, 2018
I like this book because it's so silly: instead of a dog, there's a duck and at the end, she [spoiler alert] lays an egg and tricks the fox. And then he says GRRRRRRRR!
March 12, 2014
Fox crept into the henhouse and grabbed a chicken! After a really scary get-away he arrives home to find that he hasn't nabbed a chicken after all! What happens next will surprise and delight young readers and the big people who read to them. OutFoxed is really fresh and funny! This is a great read for kids 3-10, aw heck, make that 3-100.
August 18, 2016
A funny, funny children's book—not just for little ones, but for almost anyone. As one Goodreads reviewer wrote, not just for 3–10, but for 3–100. She was right. Delightful, high-energy drawings animate the antics of the clever duck and the duped fox. For many years, I've enjoyed the author's cartoons in The New Yorker. The same wry humor, made accessible to children, infuses this story. Love it!
September 10, 2016
Clever duck tries to save her tail-feathers by outsmarting fox. Pair this with Buddy And Bunnies In Don't Play With Your Food by Bob Shea or Bark, George by Jules Feiffer.
December 27, 2014
I actually felt a little bad for the fox when he regretted his decision to bring the duck back.
July 13, 2015
I liked the art, it reminded me of kids' coloring (in a good way!)
April 5, 2018
Fox goes to the hen house and steals a chicken. But it turns out to be a duck. He decides duck is good too. But duck says he's a dog, not a duck. He barks and wags his tail and chews his socks. The next day fox takes the "dog" back to the farm. He comes home thinking he'll miss the dog, then he sees an egg in the corner. AN EGG!!! Uh oh!!!
June 4, 2018
A funny picture book about how a duck pretends to be a dog so he doesn't get eaten. I wish the pictures were bigger so I could use it for a read aloud. Would make a great story for elementary children.
January 29, 2018
The story contains lots of action as fox tries to steal a chicken and gets a duck instead who pretends to be a dog. It's written and illustrated like a cartoon, with color and font used to emphasize certain words - especially nouns and verbs. Very funny story!
October 19, 2017
Funny story with fun illustrations. Could be used to show how sentence fragments can be used purposefully and effectively.
December 19, 2017
"Get along little doggie." Way to outsmart that fox.
February 11, 2022
Can a duck truck a fox into thinking he’s a dog?? Read to find out!
The story line was a little hard to follow and I felt like some of the words got lost in the pictures.
The story line was a little hard to follow and I felt like some of the words got lost in the pictures.
January 22, 2023
Very cute story of found friendship.
June 1, 2023
So fun and amusing.
December 6, 2023
Very fun.
November 20, 2025
I like how the words are different colors and action words are emphasized.
November 30, 2013
Richie's Picks: OUTFOXED by Mike Twohy, Simon and Schuster, September 2013, 40p., ISBN: 978-1-4424-7392-4
"Oh I wanna be a dog
I wanna dig big holes
I wanna sniff French Poodles and Bassett Hounds
And pee on telephone poles."
-- Barry Louis Polisar
"Duck sniffs Fox's leg.
"'You are mistaken, sir. I am NOT a DUCK!'
"Duck jumps up and down, slobbering on Fox's coat.
"'I am a dog! SEE! A very friendly dog!
"Duck jumps up and down and slobbers on Fox some more.
"Fox is confused.
"Duck sits. Looks adorable."
According to Wikipedia's "Duck Test" article, the origin of the saying "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck...then it's a duck" is attributed to James Whitcomb Riley, the nineteenth century children's poet who created Little Orphan Annie.
"Duck BARKS. 'BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! QUACK, oops! BARK!'"
This picture book -- which puts that old saying to the test -- is hysterical! When Fox breaks into the henhouse in the dark, he assumes that what he grabs and shoves into the pocket of his overcoat is a chicken. He'd thereafter is fully focused on evading dogs and hurtling fences to escape and make it back to his den. So he is a bit surprised to then pull a duck out of his pocket.
When he nevertheless decides that "a duck will do," Duck sets out to demonstrate, through any number of obnoxious canine behaviors -- which we all can recognize and appreciate -- that she is, in fact, a dog. She is so successful in being a canine pain-in-the-butt that Fox is not only persuaded that he has a dog on his hands, but he comes to the further conclusion that he does not have time for dealing with the consequences of being a dog owner ("Foxes need sleep. We don't have time to mend socks and clean carpets."). Fox then dumps Duck back over the fence from where she came.
As Fox heads home to his den, he is actually contemplating how much he will miss his dog. Then he sits down in his easy chair and sees the egg in the corner.
While preschoolers will surely be rolling on the floor to see Duck being a dog, the multitude of possibilities for mining the sophisticated humor, and expanding on the important concept of inductive reasoning, makes this a book that will play well all the way up through the elementary grades.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
"Oh I wanna be a dog
I wanna dig big holes
I wanna sniff French Poodles and Bassett Hounds
And pee on telephone poles."
-- Barry Louis Polisar
"Duck sniffs Fox's leg.
"'You are mistaken, sir. I am NOT a DUCK!'
"Duck jumps up and down, slobbering on Fox's coat.
"'I am a dog! SEE! A very friendly dog!
"Duck jumps up and down and slobbers on Fox some more.
"Fox is confused.
"Duck sits. Looks adorable."
According to Wikipedia's "Duck Test" article, the origin of the saying "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck...then it's a duck" is attributed to James Whitcomb Riley, the nineteenth century children's poet who created Little Orphan Annie.
"Duck BARKS. 'BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! BARK! QUACK, oops! BARK!'"
This picture book -- which puts that old saying to the test -- is hysterical! When Fox breaks into the henhouse in the dark, he assumes that what he grabs and shoves into the pocket of his overcoat is a chicken. He'd thereafter is fully focused on evading dogs and hurtling fences to escape and make it back to his den. So he is a bit surprised to then pull a duck out of his pocket.
When he nevertheless decides that "a duck will do," Duck sets out to demonstrate, through any number of obnoxious canine behaviors -- which we all can recognize and appreciate -- that she is, in fact, a dog. She is so successful in being a canine pain-in-the-butt that Fox is not only persuaded that he has a dog on his hands, but he comes to the further conclusion that he does not have time for dealing with the consequences of being a dog owner ("Foxes need sleep. We don't have time to mend socks and clean carpets."). Fox then dumps Duck back over the fence from where she came.
As Fox heads home to his den, he is actually contemplating how much he will miss his dog. Then he sits down in his easy chair and sees the egg in the corner.
While preschoolers will surely be rolling on the floor to see Duck being a dog, the multitude of possibilities for mining the sophisticated humor, and expanding on the important concept of inductive reasoning, makes this a book that will play well all the way up through the elementary grades.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
https://www.facebook.com/richie.parti...
Moderator http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_... http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/people/facult...
February 20, 2014
Hysterical!!! I love the writing style in this book. For example,
"A dark night. Fox breaks into a hen house. He reaches in. He grabs a chicken!!!"
The short, stilted sentences add to the humor of this story. Poor Fox, he goes through so much just for a chicken dinner - only to find that he mistakenly grabbed a duck instead of a chicken. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Duck will have to do. But, Duck has other ideas. He says, "You are mistaken, sir. I am NOT a duck! I am a dog!" Duck proceeds to try and convince Fox of his doggie-ness. He pees on the carpet, chews holes in Fox's clothes, and wakes Fox up with wet kisses. Well, Fox has to take Duck back to the farm because Foxes don't eat dogs and they don't keep pets. Fox is lonely when he gets back home though. He thinks about all the things he'll miss about Duck. Then, he sees something that Duck left behind - an egg!
This book is adorable!
"A dark night. Fox breaks into a hen house. He reaches in. He grabs a chicken!!!"
The short, stilted sentences add to the humor of this story. Poor Fox, he goes through so much just for a chicken dinner - only to find that he mistakenly grabbed a duck instead of a chicken. Oh well, whatcha gonna do? Duck will have to do. But, Duck has other ideas. He says, "You are mistaken, sir. I am NOT a duck! I am a dog!" Duck proceeds to try and convince Fox of his doggie-ness. He pees on the carpet, chews holes in Fox's clothes, and wakes Fox up with wet kisses. Well, Fox has to take Duck back to the farm because Foxes don't eat dogs and they don't keep pets. Fox is lonely when he gets back home though. He thinks about all the things he'll miss about Duck. Then, he sees something that Duck left behind - an egg!
This book is adorable!
October 2, 2014
One dark night, Fox breaks into a henhouse, hoping for a snack. He narrowly escapes with his poultry dinner intact, but when he arrives home he discovers he's stolen a duck instead of a chicken. Oh, well. Ducks are edible too, right? Except this is no ordinary duck. This one is very smart, and determined to convince Fox he's not any type of bird at all; he's actually a dog.
Outfoxed is a hilarious tale that captures canine habits in a spot-on and amusing way. The question of who will outfox whom keeps the suspense going until the last page, and the revelation in the end is a whole lot of fun. The sound effects, drama, and wink-wink-nod-nod nature of the story make it particularly suited for a lively read-aloud. My four-year-old loves this story, and I can't wait to share it with my early elementary-schoolers.
Outfoxed is a hilarious tale that captures canine habits in a spot-on and amusing way. The question of who will outfox whom keeps the suspense going until the last page, and the revelation in the end is a whole lot of fun. The sound effects, drama, and wink-wink-nod-nod nature of the story make it particularly suited for a lively read-aloud. My four-year-old loves this story, and I can't wait to share it with my early elementary-schoolers.
November 2, 2013
A wily and hungry fox slips into a nearby henhouse, snatches what he thinks will be the main ingredient in a succulent chicken dinner, and then realizes that he has run off with a duck instead. The duck is no fool so it immediately starts trying to outfox the fox by behaving like a dog. There is much tail wagging, slobbering, and barking. Eventually, the fox has had enough love and returns the duck to his farm home. Only after he returns home to find the egg the duck left behind does he realize his mistake. Young readers will chortle as they read this simple, humorous story embellished with illustrations created with markers and colored pencils.
October 16, 2013
Cute story of a duck that just might be able to outfox a fox. The illustrations are colorful and quite fun. The text is large and easy to read, though my son read it and was bothered my some of the abrupt, seemingly incomplete sentences. For example: "Duck runs into living room ..." or "He sees something in corner". Most people would say, "into THE living room" or "something in THE corner". It just felt a little awkward to a new reader. But overall a funny story and the last page is the best illustration!
December 17, 2013
The comic book style art works well with the broad joke here--Duck foils Fox by convincing him that he is a dog. Great end punch-line. One more for the books older preschoolers and kindergarteners will get, so don't waste this one on your 2 year old--read them some Olivier Dunrea or Ted Hill instead.
November 7, 2013
A delightfully funny tale that reminds us all things may not be as they seem. Fox is hungry and sneaks off to the hen house and brings back a very clever duck. Duck does not want to be eaten and so he disguises himself as a dog to avoid fox's dinner plate. Duck even goes as far to shred fox's clothes and tinkle on the floor like a puppy would. Youg readers will enjoy the ending where fox realizes he has been "had"!
February 9, 2015
A story of a fox who robbed a hen house only to discover that he had stolen a duck instead of a chicken. The duck, being sly, pretended to be a dog as foxes don't eat dogs. The fox eventually believes the duck and takes it back to the farm. When the fox goes home, he realizes his mistake when he finds an egg that was laid in the corner.
I'm not a fan of the art or the short, incomplete sentences.
I'm not a fan of the art or the short, incomplete sentences.
September 25, 2013
A cute, quick, farmyard adventure. Per the usual suspects the fox is a cunning and mischievous hunter out to steal himself a nice, plump, chicken for dinner. When he accidentally grabs a duck the duck sets out to save his own skin by convincing the fox that he is indeed a dog.
Certainly a fun read that will have many kids giggling and rooting for the poor duck to get back to the farm.
Certainly a fun read that will have many kids giggling and rooting for the poor duck to get back to the farm.
October 9, 2013
"If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's a duck." Fox is fooled by a duck desperate to disguise himself as a dog, and thus avoid being made into dinner. Large, colorful handlettered font and a graphic-novel layout make this picture book very accessible and fun. One of my favorite moments was the duck barking, "Bark! Bark! Bark! Quack, oops! Bark!" Silly and lighthearted.
October 17, 2013
Fox really wanted a chicken dinner, so imagine his disappointment when he discovers he has stolen a duck. At least, it looks like a duck. But why is it sniffing, slobbering, peeing on the floor, and chewing up his socks? Could his duck really be a…dog? Lots of fun here as we root for a very, very clever “dog”.
October 18, 2013
Cute story about a fox who steals a chicken from a farm. When fox gets home he realizes he has a duck, but thinks he will eat the duck anyway. The duck pretends to be a dog to convince the fox not to eat him. The fox ends up returning the duck to the farm only to get home and see the duck laid a egg! Outfoxed indeed!
November 16, 2013
Pitch-perfect humor for age 5-7ish. UPDATE: I read this to several classes of first-graders who absolutely adored it. They loved shouting "He's not a dog, he's a DUCK!" and being smarter than the fox. Some children had fun seeing the duck feet peeking out of the fox's pocket and saying "He grabbed a duck, not a chicken!" before the reveal on the next pages. Kid-tested and approved!
November 12, 2022
Great story, great illustration. A fox grabs a duck out of a hen house in a hurry. He brings it back to his house to eat for supper. The duck pretends to be a dog in order to save himself from being eaten. He fools the fox, until after the fox has returned him to the farm and discovers the that duck laid an egg in the corner of his room. Very funny!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews