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Another Fine Mess
When a fox cleans his den to prepare for a visit from his uncle, his trash makes the rounds to the homes of other animals before ending up right back where it began
- GenresPicture Books
32 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 8, 2016
This was actually a really interesting book, I ended up liking it a lot.
Fox stayed out late partying and he wakes up hungover to a knock on his door.
What. The book does not say that.
Okay, okay, the book doesn't say that, it just says that Fox "had been out all night" and he's bleary and stumbling. We see that his house is a sty. Socks, empty chip bags, fish bones, chicken bones, egg shells, boxes and buttons litter the floor and furniture.
ANYWAY, the knock is the mail-squirrel delivering a letter.
Fox trudges back to bed to read it. He snuggles under the covers.
Dear Nephew,
I will pay you a visit on the next full moon.
Sincerely, Uncle Ferdinand
"Oh, shit!" exclaims Fox as he looks at his calendar. "The next full moon is tonight!"
What. The book does NOT say "shit," Carmen.
Okay, okay, he says "oh, no."
ANYWAY, his den is a mess and Fox is ashamed to let Uncle Ferdinand see it like this. So he cleans the whole house but he has nowhere to put the trash.
That lead me to think. How DO these anthropomorphic animals get rid of garbage in these children's books? Is there a dump? Do they have trash bins? What is their system for getting rid of waste?
Well, apparently there is no system because Fox just dumps all that trash into a hole in the ground.
"This will do just fine," he said, sweeping the trash down the hole.
Then Fox went back to his den to wait for Uncle Ferdinand.
And I was like, where is the author going with this? Is this like shoving your mess into a closet when you know company is coming? What is going to happen? Who cares that he put his trash in a hole?
In the meantime, Badger woke to a terrible CRASH! It sounded as if the roof had fallen in. She jumped out of bed, and there in the middle of the living room was a pile of trash!
OH, I SEE. Yes, it's BAD that Fox put the trash in the hole because THAT HOLE WAS SOMEONE'S HOME. Wow. That really hit me hard. Poor Badger, she just woke up and found all this trash in her very pink living room, which is apparently wired with electricity, FYI. It's really getting me that Fox thought he was getting rid of his trash in an easy yet harmless way, but he's inadvertently ruining another's home. Wow. This is getting good.
So Badger takes all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole in a field.
The Rabbit family was just about to have some salad for lunch when the trash fell SPLAT! right into the middle of the kitchen table.
They were horrified.
"Yuck! What a mess!" said the children.
"My poor lettuce!" said Mommy Rabbit.
"Grab a brush, everyone!" said Daddy Rabbit.
What's falling from the ceiling: apple core, eggshell, bones, tea bags, chip bags, boxes, leaves, buttons.
So the Rabbits and their four children pick up all the garbage and shove it into a thick clump of grass.
Soon after, Partridge finished pecking in the woods for her lunch and returned to the new nest she had built.
She was terribly upset to find that someone had dumped all their trash on top of it.
"What a mess!" she screeched. "How will I ever clean this up?"
There's the usual trash, plus tomatoes and cucumber slices.
So she picks up all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole. Oh, gosh.
Mole is very upset when trash rains down on his hallway. He shoves it out the door where it falls at Uncle Ferdinand's feet. Ferdinand picks up all the trash and puts it outside of Fox's den.
"Look at this trash I found on the road!" said Uncle Ferdinand crossly when Fox answered the door.
Fox is very surprised to see his trash has come home to him. He's just about to suggest throwing it down a hole when the Mouse Family shows up and asks about these "treasures." YES! I was wondering why the animals were rejecting the trash!!! There's some good trash. Don't animals LIKE cucumbers, tomatoes, bones, tea bags, and leaves? I mean, chip bags are obviously bad, but a lot of this is stuff I think animals would really groove on. Give it to some squirrels! Give it to some raccoons, for crying out loud! But Bonning went with mice. Whatever, I'm just glad he finally acknowledged this fact.
After the mice cart all the "treasures" away, the book ends rather weirdly.
"I wish all my nephews were as neat and clean as you," said Uncle Ferdinand, proudly looking around the den. "I do my best!" said Fox with a sly grin. EL FIN
What. I mean, what? He threw trash into someone's house! I mean, sure he did it unwittingly, but isn't it common knowledge among animals that other animals live in holes?!!!? I should think so! Especially since it's clear they all share a common language and electricity.
But I was strangely satisfied and happy with this ending, I can't stand preachy books and this book manages to teach both about littering AND about 'one woman's trash is another woman's treasure' pretty effectively without getting preachy.
Tl;dr - A great read. I liked it a lot.
P.S. Also this would be a great book to talk about composting with children and what materials can be composted.
Fox stayed out late partying and he wakes up hungover to a knock on his door.
What. The book does not say that.
Okay, okay, the book doesn't say that, it just says that Fox "had been out all night" and he's bleary and stumbling. We see that his house is a sty. Socks, empty chip bags, fish bones, chicken bones, egg shells, boxes and buttons litter the floor and furniture.
ANYWAY, the knock is the mail-squirrel delivering a letter.
Fox trudges back to bed to read it. He snuggles under the covers.
Dear Nephew,
I will pay you a visit on the next full moon.
Sincerely, Uncle Ferdinand
"Oh, shit!" exclaims Fox as he looks at his calendar. "The next full moon is tonight!"
What. The book does NOT say "shit," Carmen.
Okay, okay, he says "oh, no."
ANYWAY, his den is a mess and Fox is ashamed to let Uncle Ferdinand see it like this. So he cleans the whole house but he has nowhere to put the trash.
That lead me to think. How DO these anthropomorphic animals get rid of garbage in these children's books? Is there a dump? Do they have trash bins? What is their system for getting rid of waste?
Well, apparently there is no system because Fox just dumps all that trash into a hole in the ground.
"This will do just fine," he said, sweeping the trash down the hole.
Then Fox went back to his den to wait for Uncle Ferdinand.
And I was like, where is the author going with this? Is this like shoving your mess into a closet when you know company is coming? What is going to happen? Who cares that he put his trash in a hole?
In the meantime, Badger woke to a terrible CRASH! It sounded as if the roof had fallen in. She jumped out of bed, and there in the middle of the living room was a pile of trash!
OH, I SEE. Yes, it's BAD that Fox put the trash in the hole because THAT HOLE WAS SOMEONE'S HOME. Wow. That really hit me hard. Poor Badger, she just woke up and found all this trash in her very pink living room, which is apparently wired with electricity, FYI. It's really getting me that Fox thought he was getting rid of his trash in an easy yet harmless way, but he's inadvertently ruining another's home. Wow. This is getting good.
So Badger takes all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole in a field.
The Rabbit family was just about to have some salad for lunch when the trash fell SPLAT! right into the middle of the kitchen table.
They were horrified.
"Yuck! What a mess!" said the children.
"My poor lettuce!" said Mommy Rabbit.
"Grab a brush, everyone!" said Daddy Rabbit.
What's falling from the ceiling: apple core, eggshell, bones, tea bags, chip bags, boxes, leaves, buttons.
So the Rabbits and their four children pick up all the garbage and shove it into a thick clump of grass.
Soon after, Partridge finished pecking in the woods for her lunch and returned to the new nest she had built.
She was terribly upset to find that someone had dumped all their trash on top of it.
"What a mess!" she screeched. "How will I ever clean this up?"
There's the usual trash, plus tomatoes and cucumber slices.
So she picks up all the trash and puts it in ANOTHER hole. Oh, gosh.
Mole is very upset when trash rains down on his hallway. He shoves it out the door where it falls at Uncle Ferdinand's feet. Ferdinand picks up all the trash and puts it outside of Fox's den.
"Look at this trash I found on the road!" said Uncle Ferdinand crossly when Fox answered the door.
Fox is very surprised to see his trash has come home to him. He's just about to suggest throwing it down a hole when the Mouse Family shows up and asks about these "treasures." YES! I was wondering why the animals were rejecting the trash!!! There's some good trash. Don't animals LIKE cucumbers, tomatoes, bones, tea bags, and leaves? I mean, chip bags are obviously bad, but a lot of this is stuff I think animals would really groove on. Give it to some squirrels! Give it to some raccoons, for crying out loud! But Bonning went with mice. Whatever, I'm just glad he finally acknowledged this fact.
After the mice cart all the "treasures" away, the book ends rather weirdly.
"I wish all my nephews were as neat and clean as you," said Uncle Ferdinand, proudly looking around the den. "I do my best!" said Fox with a sly grin. EL FIN
What. I mean, what? He threw trash into someone's house! I mean, sure he did it unwittingly, but isn't it common knowledge among animals that other animals live in holes?!!!? I should think so! Especially since it's clear they all share a common language and electricity.
But I was strangely satisfied and happy with this ending, I can't stand preachy books and this book manages to teach both about littering AND about 'one woman's trash is another woman's treasure' pretty effectively without getting preachy.
Tl;dr - A great read. I liked it a lot.
P.S. Also this would be a great book to talk about composting with children and what materials can be composted.
January 21, 2022
IT WAS AWESOME BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
February 3, 2023
I wanted this book to have a different ending.
March 30, 2011
This is a great book to use for predictions. Students could predict what each character is going to do with their newly found "mess". The book also conveys the message that we shouldn't just throw our trash away anywhere, and sometimes what we consider trash might be a treasure to someone else. This book could be read as a way to show students why people donate items to others (this could relate to your school if they are collecting items for donations- such as gently used coats, etc.).
September 1, 2014
The lesson is that when you throw something away, it just ends up in someone else's house. You'd do better to recycle it or give it to someone who wants it. That's not really apparent in the book, though... you'd have to bring it out yourself.
February 29, 2012
Cute, but would've been better if Fox had actually had to deal with his mess, rather than having it carried off by mice in the end.
November 12, 2015
Alissa got the message about dumping our trash causing problems for others.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews