What do you think?
Rate this book
The Foxman
From the recipient of the Newbery Honor award for his contemporary classic, Hatchet, comes another page-turning, heart-stopping adventure.
Carl and his cousin are lost and getting desperate when they find a shack hidden in the woods. It's their only chance for shelter--but who could be living way out here? Then they see the Foxman. As he welcomes the boys, he grabs his mask--too late to hide his hideously mutilated face. Carl accepts his welcome, but is eager to leave the next morning. His cousin, however, will come back. There's something about the Foxman he must know--about the tragedy that should have destroyed him, and the mystery of the wilderness that keeps him alive.
Carl and his cousin are lost and getting desperate when they find a shack hidden in the woods. It's their only chance for shelter--but who could be living way out here? Then they see the Foxman. As he welcomes the boys, he grabs his mask--too late to hide his hideously mutilated face. Carl accepts his welcome, but is eager to leave the next morning. His cousin, however, will come back. There's something about the Foxman he must know--about the tragedy that should have destroyed him, and the mystery of the wilderness that keeps him alive.
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
22 people are currently reading
326 people want to read
About the author
Gary Paulsen
408 books3,979 followersGary James Paulsen was an American writer of children's and young adult fiction, best known for coming-of-age stories about the wilderness. He was the author of more than 200 books and wrote more than 200 magazine articles and short stories, and several plays, all primarily for teenagers. He won the Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1997 for his lifetime contribution in writing for teens.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
March 28, 2021
Does anyone write about the Minnesota wilderness like Gary Paulsen? Whether he's creating a fictional story, is describing his own real adventures in the extreme wintry North in temperatures that drop under eighty degrees below zero Fahrenheit, or has concocted a mixture of fiction and memoir as seems to be the case in The Foxman, Gary Paulsen is usually on his game when he tells stories set in that region of America. Who could forget Tracker, Dancing Carl, The Winter Room, or Woodsong, to name only a few? The sublime literary powers that earned Mr. Paulsen three Newbery Honors in the 1980s and into the '90s were already evident in 1977 throughout the heartfelt, deceptively volatile brew that is The Foxman, as we tag along beside the main character on a journey of discovery that we sense from the beginning isn't going to end well. In a softened, sweetened version of the foreboding that marks almost all Robert Cormier's teen novels, Gary Paulsen takes us into the center of the human heart, where motivation, intent, and actions get so tangled that we can't tell who's to blame when tragedy occurs. We just know our loss, that someone or something good and beautiful is no longer in the world, and we lead a poorer life as a result. Even years afterward, we don't get why things turned out as they did.
The fifteen-year-old main character of The Foxman didn't grow up on his uncle's woodsy Minnesota farm. He lived in town, with parents who consumed too much alcohol and couldn't always stop themselves from taking out their frustrations on their son. The latest episode ended with his mother assaulting him under the kitchen table with a knife, and the courts had seen enough by then to remove the kid from their custody, at least temporarily. Relatives in the country were happy to foster the boy awhile: Uncle Harold and Aunt Mildred, Harold's father, Hans, and uncle, Agile (both Norwegian immigrants), and Harold and Mildred's two kids, Carl (about the same age as our main character) and eight-year-old Don. Life on the farm isn't the same as the city: the homegrown meals are huge, to provide fuel for the vigorous labor of bucking trees and dozens of other arduous tasks around a farm. Our main character bunks with Carl and they team up to finish their daily work, and in a month or two the city boy isn't missing his troubled parents so badly. He's comfortable with his substitute family, and prepares with gusto for winter, which heralds trapping season and all-day skiing excursions over hard-packed snow to check traplines with Carl. Winter evenings are reserved for Hans and Agile's stories by the warm stove, a cozy arrangement where the stress of a long day's work is eased by the two elderly World War I veterans as they spin humorous yarns of their days combating despotism in Europe. Our main character isn't as enamored of the stories as the rest of the family, feeling sad about the tragedy of war that links every tale, but it's not a bad way to pass evenings when winter is howling just beyond the walls as if its murderous cold will rule forever.
When the fifteen-year-old cousins stray too far on their trapline one day, the narrative shifts from the sacred simplicity of The Winter Room to something different. Knowing they can't make it home before a mammoth snowstorm engulfs them on their skis, the boys seek refuge in a tiny cabin off the beaten path. Any port will do against a storm this size, but the cousins are unprepared for the face that greets them when the front door opens. The man is hideously disfigured, face purple and splotchy all over, the lower half of his jaw melted and twisted and most of the flesh gone. They want to turn tail and run right then, but the approaching storm is a merciless beast, so they swallow their inhibitions and accept the deformed stranger's hospitality. The man is a fox trapper who lives alone, meeting a trader once a year in spring to replenish his food and other supplies. He declines to participate in mainstream society, and though he doesn't say outright that it's because of his face, that's why. He provides the two stranded teens food and a place to sleep, but they leave as soon as possible in the morning. Though the Foxman wears a mask on his lower face when company's around to reduce the gross-out factor, being around him is unnerving. He clearly doesn't want the pity of neighbors, so the boys agree not to tell the grownups about him.
One night with the Foxman is more than enough for Carl, whose interest that winter strays to a local girl and what the two of them can do to keep warm together. But our main character feels badly about leaving the Foxman so abruptly, when the man obviously loved having their company. The Foxman doesn't interact with a single soul most winters, only the books he collects by the hundreds and reads in his free time, and the guitar he plucks and plinks with skillful artistry for no one's pleasure but his own. He certainly has a story of suffering in war, but no one to tell it to, for few know he even exists on that snowy hill in Minnesota's dense woods. Not sure why he's drawn to do so, our main character skis miles to see the Foxman again, unable to explain to the hermit his reason for visiting. But that's okay; the Foxman doesn't require an explanation. Some things defy explanation, blessings that intersect our path in ways small and big and lead to the best days of our life. There's no need to dissect them to gain their benefit. A sweet gesture of companionship stands on its own merit, the cornerstone for a new relationship built from the ground. Who's to say a wounded warrior and a curious teen can't connect in a friendship that rewards them both?
Learning for years from the woods he traps in has honed the Foxman's senses to a nearly superhuman edge, and his new friend marvels at the natural wonders the trapper reveals to him. Beautiful, dramatic scenes play out every day in the purity of the snowscape that extends through field and forest to far beyond the horizon. There's much more to the natural world than anyone is aware who doesn't sit and silently contemplate within it, and time to do so is one commodity on which the Foxman doesn't run low. When the weekend comes and releases our main character from schooling and farming obligations, he skis over to see the Foxman, who is ready with new thoughts, observations, and lessons for the boy. He helps him with homework, showing him there's a deeper level to learn on than most students take advantage of, applying his wisdom to shed fresh light on tired subjects that the boy only viewed before as paperwork to placate a teacher. "Actually he just taught me new ways to look at the same old things, taught me always to question things and make sure they were right before accepting them." Never has he learned as deeply as in these months with the Foxman, whose intelligence, sagacity, and passion would go to waste had the boy not offered him the one thing the man knows he won't get from most of society: true friendship. The boy sees the Foxman as an artist and an unpretentious cog in nature's wheel, not a crippled soldier to be pitied, and this is the greatest gift he could give the Foxman.
"Sometimes it would be nice if life just kept happening the way it's happening, if things got to a good place and just stayed there, didn't change."
—The Foxman, P. 91
But no felicity that arises so suddenly seems to last forever, and when his friendship with the Foxman is at its peak, a small event sets in motion the end of his days with the lonely hermit. An innocent nudge can knock down a house of cards, leaving the components of an elaborate mansion of paper and ink fluttering to the floor in a useless mess. The Foxman words it better: "But life has a way of pulling the rug out from under you just when you need it least, which is what they like to call growing, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned you can have it. It seems like everything they call growing up has to jerk your guts out and just about wreck you and I've never been able to understand why that's supposed to be good for you." Crisis feels obvious in retrospect, and even if there's nothing you could have done to prevent it, you go over what happened again and again in your mind to see if another outcome was possible, but it doesn't matter in the end. The past can't be reconstructed in light of the future. All we can do is think on the glorious days we had when the world sat right and we were king of our portion of it, the only portion that mattered to us. What we had may have fallen short of perfection, but in hindsight we see it was closer to perfect than we understood, as close as humans can come to that unattainable standard and for longer than many people ever enjoy. Love what you had for the time you had it and don't despair, for you carry more of the experience in your memories than you realize. When you've had the privilege of learning and growing in relationship with someone you came to love, the joy is still the biggest part of you even after those days have faded away.
What makes learning with the Foxman special isn't the lessons imparted, but the way the teaching is done. It's an extension of their relationship that occurs without either of them having to think about it. "I was learning though I didn't know it, the way you can learn even though it doesn't seem you are, by having it rub off on you." Is there a better way to learn than as the byproduct of friendship, shared zeal for life transferring instinctive cognizance effortlessly? That is consummate education: learning that's indistinguishable from the affection we feel for each other, and it's why the main character in this book loves being with the Foxman. His distaste for Hans and Agile's comical war stories stems in part from knowing what the war cost the Foxman, but the boy's older companion tries to elevate his perspective. "These stories that you're hearing back at the farm—don't let them get you down. All they're trying to do is pluck a rose from manure...The men telling these stories are only trying to remember some of the parts of the war that might be worth remembering—trying to find some use in all that waste." Understanding that doesn't allow the boy to forget the Foxman's pain and laugh at Hans and Agile's anecdotes, but it starts him thinking about looking for a rose in every mound of manure, attempting to draw some good out of revolting filth. Though the metaphor doesn't consciously make perfect sense to the boy, it's what this book is about from start to finish. The necessity of finding the rose at the end of the story is particularly poignant and realistic, for there is no easy answer when beauty is trampled and goodness lost forever. There's only the haunting question of why, a question with no logical response in a world where horrible things happen and we're left digging for redemption in piles of excrement. But the Foxman believes the search is worthwhile, and so do I.
Most of Gary Paulsen's best novels were published in the '80s and '90s, but he had quality moments in the 1970s, and The Foxman is one of them. It's not as lengthy as a lot of teen literature (one hundred nineteen pages in the edition I read), but there's complexity of content and theme, and the story merits multiple reads. It is artistic youth literature: quiet, introspective, emotionally resonant, and grounded in the author's awe of the natural world, which contains an inexhaustible treasury of wonders if we have eyes to see it. Nature always has more to teach if we humble ourselves to learn. The Foxman himself is a diamond in the rough, a fragrant rose sprouting out of fertilizer, and our hearts ache at his treatment by society. He'd be feared or felt sorry for if people knew about him, and neither response is just. He wants to be accepted for what he is and contribute to humanity as mightily as he's capable of, but others will never comprehend that, so he retreats to live out his days in the nonjudgmental arena of nature. How will the world react if we're as peculiar as the Foxman in our own way? We have to find that out ourselves, but be cautious: the world that judged the Foxman on appearances may do the same to us. If you appreciate Gary Paulsen's Tiltawhirl John (which also features a main character whose name isn't mentioned), The Foxman is probably your kind of novel. It is another jeweled stud in the career of one of our finest children's authors.
The fifteen-year-old main character of The Foxman didn't grow up on his uncle's woodsy Minnesota farm. He lived in town, with parents who consumed too much alcohol and couldn't always stop themselves from taking out their frustrations on their son. The latest episode ended with his mother assaulting him under the kitchen table with a knife, and the courts had seen enough by then to remove the kid from their custody, at least temporarily. Relatives in the country were happy to foster the boy awhile: Uncle Harold and Aunt Mildred, Harold's father, Hans, and uncle, Agile (both Norwegian immigrants), and Harold and Mildred's two kids, Carl (about the same age as our main character) and eight-year-old Don. Life on the farm isn't the same as the city: the homegrown meals are huge, to provide fuel for the vigorous labor of bucking trees and dozens of other arduous tasks around a farm. Our main character bunks with Carl and they team up to finish their daily work, and in a month or two the city boy isn't missing his troubled parents so badly. He's comfortable with his substitute family, and prepares with gusto for winter, which heralds trapping season and all-day skiing excursions over hard-packed snow to check traplines with Carl. Winter evenings are reserved for Hans and Agile's stories by the warm stove, a cozy arrangement where the stress of a long day's work is eased by the two elderly World War I veterans as they spin humorous yarns of their days combating despotism in Europe. Our main character isn't as enamored of the stories as the rest of the family, feeling sad about the tragedy of war that links every tale, but it's not a bad way to pass evenings when winter is howling just beyond the walls as if its murderous cold will rule forever.
When the fifteen-year-old cousins stray too far on their trapline one day, the narrative shifts from the sacred simplicity of The Winter Room to something different. Knowing they can't make it home before a mammoth snowstorm engulfs them on their skis, the boys seek refuge in a tiny cabin off the beaten path. Any port will do against a storm this size, but the cousins are unprepared for the face that greets them when the front door opens. The man is hideously disfigured, face purple and splotchy all over, the lower half of his jaw melted and twisted and most of the flesh gone. They want to turn tail and run right then, but the approaching storm is a merciless beast, so they swallow their inhibitions and accept the deformed stranger's hospitality. The man is a fox trapper who lives alone, meeting a trader once a year in spring to replenish his food and other supplies. He declines to participate in mainstream society, and though he doesn't say outright that it's because of his face, that's why. He provides the two stranded teens food and a place to sleep, but they leave as soon as possible in the morning. Though the Foxman wears a mask on his lower face when company's around to reduce the gross-out factor, being around him is unnerving. He clearly doesn't want the pity of neighbors, so the boys agree not to tell the grownups about him.
One night with the Foxman is more than enough for Carl, whose interest that winter strays to a local girl and what the two of them can do to keep warm together. But our main character feels badly about leaving the Foxman so abruptly, when the man obviously loved having their company. The Foxman doesn't interact with a single soul most winters, only the books he collects by the hundreds and reads in his free time, and the guitar he plucks and plinks with skillful artistry for no one's pleasure but his own. He certainly has a story of suffering in war, but no one to tell it to, for few know he even exists on that snowy hill in Minnesota's dense woods. Not sure why he's drawn to do so, our main character skis miles to see the Foxman again, unable to explain to the hermit his reason for visiting. But that's okay; the Foxman doesn't require an explanation. Some things defy explanation, blessings that intersect our path in ways small and big and lead to the best days of our life. There's no need to dissect them to gain their benefit. A sweet gesture of companionship stands on its own merit, the cornerstone for a new relationship built from the ground. Who's to say a wounded warrior and a curious teen can't connect in a friendship that rewards them both?
Learning for years from the woods he traps in has honed the Foxman's senses to a nearly superhuman edge, and his new friend marvels at the natural wonders the trapper reveals to him. Beautiful, dramatic scenes play out every day in the purity of the snowscape that extends through field and forest to far beyond the horizon. There's much more to the natural world than anyone is aware who doesn't sit and silently contemplate within it, and time to do so is one commodity on which the Foxman doesn't run low. When the weekend comes and releases our main character from schooling and farming obligations, he skis over to see the Foxman, who is ready with new thoughts, observations, and lessons for the boy. He helps him with homework, showing him there's a deeper level to learn on than most students take advantage of, applying his wisdom to shed fresh light on tired subjects that the boy only viewed before as paperwork to placate a teacher. "Actually he just taught me new ways to look at the same old things, taught me always to question things and make sure they were right before accepting them." Never has he learned as deeply as in these months with the Foxman, whose intelligence, sagacity, and passion would go to waste had the boy not offered him the one thing the man knows he won't get from most of society: true friendship. The boy sees the Foxman as an artist and an unpretentious cog in nature's wheel, not a crippled soldier to be pitied, and this is the greatest gift he could give the Foxman.
"Sometimes it would be nice if life just kept happening the way it's happening, if things got to a good place and just stayed there, didn't change."
—The Foxman, P. 91
But no felicity that arises so suddenly seems to last forever, and when his friendship with the Foxman is at its peak, a small event sets in motion the end of his days with the lonely hermit. An innocent nudge can knock down a house of cards, leaving the components of an elaborate mansion of paper and ink fluttering to the floor in a useless mess. The Foxman words it better: "But life has a way of pulling the rug out from under you just when you need it least, which is what they like to call growing, I guess, but as far as I'm concerned you can have it. It seems like everything they call growing up has to jerk your guts out and just about wreck you and I've never been able to understand why that's supposed to be good for you." Crisis feels obvious in retrospect, and even if there's nothing you could have done to prevent it, you go over what happened again and again in your mind to see if another outcome was possible, but it doesn't matter in the end. The past can't be reconstructed in light of the future. All we can do is think on the glorious days we had when the world sat right and we were king of our portion of it, the only portion that mattered to us. What we had may have fallen short of perfection, but in hindsight we see it was closer to perfect than we understood, as close as humans can come to that unattainable standard and for longer than many people ever enjoy. Love what you had for the time you had it and don't despair, for you carry more of the experience in your memories than you realize. When you've had the privilege of learning and growing in relationship with someone you came to love, the joy is still the biggest part of you even after those days have faded away.
What makes learning with the Foxman special isn't the lessons imparted, but the way the teaching is done. It's an extension of their relationship that occurs without either of them having to think about it. "I was learning though I didn't know it, the way you can learn even though it doesn't seem you are, by having it rub off on you." Is there a better way to learn than as the byproduct of friendship, shared zeal for life transferring instinctive cognizance effortlessly? That is consummate education: learning that's indistinguishable from the affection we feel for each other, and it's why the main character in this book loves being with the Foxman. His distaste for Hans and Agile's comical war stories stems in part from knowing what the war cost the Foxman, but the boy's older companion tries to elevate his perspective. "These stories that you're hearing back at the farm—don't let them get you down. All they're trying to do is pluck a rose from manure...The men telling these stories are only trying to remember some of the parts of the war that might be worth remembering—trying to find some use in all that waste." Understanding that doesn't allow the boy to forget the Foxman's pain and laugh at Hans and Agile's anecdotes, but it starts him thinking about looking for a rose in every mound of manure, attempting to draw some good out of revolting filth. Though the metaphor doesn't consciously make perfect sense to the boy, it's what this book is about from start to finish. The necessity of finding the rose at the end of the story is particularly poignant and realistic, for there is no easy answer when beauty is trampled and goodness lost forever. There's only the haunting question of why, a question with no logical response in a world where horrible things happen and we're left digging for redemption in piles of excrement. But the Foxman believes the search is worthwhile, and so do I.
Most of Gary Paulsen's best novels were published in the '80s and '90s, but he had quality moments in the 1970s, and The Foxman is one of them. It's not as lengthy as a lot of teen literature (one hundred nineteen pages in the edition I read), but there's complexity of content and theme, and the story merits multiple reads. It is artistic youth literature: quiet, introspective, emotionally resonant, and grounded in the author's awe of the natural world, which contains an inexhaustible treasury of wonders if we have eyes to see it. Nature always has more to teach if we humble ourselves to learn. The Foxman himself is a diamond in the rough, a fragrant rose sprouting out of fertilizer, and our hearts ache at his treatment by society. He'd be feared or felt sorry for if people knew about him, and neither response is just. He wants to be accepted for what he is and contribute to humanity as mightily as he's capable of, but others will never comprehend that, so he retreats to live out his days in the nonjudgmental arena of nature. How will the world react if we're as peculiar as the Foxman in our own way? We have to find that out ourselves, but be cautious: the world that judged the Foxman on appearances may do the same to us. If you appreciate Gary Paulsen's Tiltawhirl John (which also features a main character whose name isn't mentioned), The Foxman is probably your kind of novel. It is another jeweled stud in the career of one of our finest children's authors.
February 23, 2022
Awesome!!! Beautiful description, you can see it in your mind.
August 31, 2018
Another stunning book by Gary Paulson who’s books never disappoint.
This story finds a young man growing up in an abusive, toxic household who is put into the guardianship of his uncle because his parents are drunks who tried to kill him one night. Uncle lives on a huge farm and the boy fits right in. Makes friends with his older cousin, learns about girls, working hard, making things with his own hands, hunting. Along the way he is exposed to storytelling and figures out on his own that stories about war are not funny and not everyone who goes to war comes back in one piece.
The friendship he develops with the Foxman is warm, open and always educational. The foxman teaches him more than just what is in books but how to track, smell, pay attention to what is happening around him.
I also believe his uncle knows somehow that he is staying with or near the foxman. Never for a second do I think he is unaware of where his young charge goes off for weeks at a time. But he lets him, gives him wings so to speak, to grow and learn in his own way.
Fantastic book.
This story finds a young man growing up in an abusive, toxic household who is put into the guardianship of his uncle because his parents are drunks who tried to kill him one night. Uncle lives on a huge farm and the boy fits right in. Makes friends with his older cousin, learns about girls, working hard, making things with his own hands, hunting. Along the way he is exposed to storytelling and figures out on his own that stories about war are not funny and not everyone who goes to war comes back in one piece.
The friendship he develops with the Foxman is warm, open and always educational. The foxman teaches him more than just what is in books but how to track, smell, pay attention to what is happening around him.
I also believe his uncle knows somehow that he is staying with or near the foxman. Never for a second do I think he is unaware of where his young charge goes off for weeks at a time. But he lets him, gives him wings so to speak, to grow and learn in his own way.
Fantastic book.
June 10, 2020
Tough life lessons: alcoholic parents, war, pain
Healing power of wilderness and physical work. Harsh, cold winters.
Integrity, loyalty, compassion, perseverance.
What was the role of young Don in this story?
This was a quick read, which may warrant 4-stars. I can think of several kids/young men who would appreciate this story.
First line:
That first summer I was fifteen ... the summer when the judge sent me to my Uncle Harold's farm up in northern Minnesota on the edge of the woods that went north forever.
It just dawned on me that the 15-yo narrator is never named. Or, if he were, I missed it.
Healing power of wilderness and physical work. Harsh, cold winters.
Integrity, loyalty, compassion, perseverance.
What was the role of young Don in this story?
This was a quick read, which may warrant 4-stars. I can think of several kids/young men who would appreciate this story.
First line:
That first summer I was fifteen ... the summer when the judge sent me to my Uncle Harold's farm up in northern Minnesota on the edge of the woods that went north forever.
It just dawned on me that the 15-yo narrator is never named. Or, if he were, I missed it.
July 19, 2019
Great book...So far I haven't been disappointed by any of Gary Paulsen's books. I listened to this book in my car with my 7 year old and from beginning to end it captured our attention and held it. I would recommend most of his books for young & older readers. I've listened to the whole Hatchet series with my 7 year old and he LOVED every book.
December 20, 2024
Wow. What a strong book, beginning to end. Gary Paulsen magic.
December 21, 2024
Good addition of Gary Paulsen of survivor stories. Great story about tragedy and resilience.
March 16, 2024
The 43 year old me doesn’t think this is good but at least my 7 year old likes it. Read this with my dad as a kid, still holds up for the younger mind.
Also- @Lane, do these count towards my reading goal?
Also- @Lane, do these count towards my reading goal?
October 12, 2024
The Foxman isn’t a loud story, but it’s real. It’s about two people, both scarred, finding some kind of understanding out in the wild. Paulsen knows how to capture the quiet spaces — the moments between words, where everything happens without needing to say it. I respect that.
The boy in the story is trying to figure out life, death, and everything in between. The Foxman has already made his choice, living out in the woods, hiding from the world. That kind of man — someone who turns his back on civilization to live in the dirt, on his own terms — I get him. There’s dignity in the way he survives, even if he’s broken. The wild has a way of doing that, stripping you down to what you really are.
The setting is stark, and Paulsen knows how to make the woods feel like a character in itself. It’s always there, shaping the people in the story, testing them. But this isn’t a story about survival in the usual sense. It’s about accepting things — pain, loss, life itself. The Foxman doesn’t fight the wilderness. He’s part of it, and the boy learns that, too.
What holds this book back is that it stays too quiet at times. I wanted more from the Foxman. His past, his reasons for living like he does, they’re all hinted at but never fully explored. I get that Paulsen wanted him to stay a mystery, but there was room for more. I wanted to see the man beneath the scars, to understand what drove him into the wild for good.
Even so, The Foxman is a strong story. The wilderness is more than a backdrop, it’s a force. And the characters — especially the Foxman — are shaped by it. It’s not flashy, but it’s honest, and sometimes that’s enough. This is a book for people who know what it feels like to be out there, where the world falls away and you’re left with yourself.
The boy in the story is trying to figure out life, death, and everything in between. The Foxman has already made his choice, living out in the woods, hiding from the world. That kind of man — someone who turns his back on civilization to live in the dirt, on his own terms — I get him. There’s dignity in the way he survives, even if he’s broken. The wild has a way of doing that, stripping you down to what you really are.
The setting is stark, and Paulsen knows how to make the woods feel like a character in itself. It’s always there, shaping the people in the story, testing them. But this isn’t a story about survival in the usual sense. It’s about accepting things — pain, loss, life itself. The Foxman doesn’t fight the wilderness. He’s part of it, and the boy learns that, too.
What holds this book back is that it stays too quiet at times. I wanted more from the Foxman. His past, his reasons for living like he does, they’re all hinted at but never fully explored. I get that Paulsen wanted him to stay a mystery, but there was room for more. I wanted to see the man beneath the scars, to understand what drove him into the wild for good.
Even so, The Foxman is a strong story. The wilderness is more than a backdrop, it’s a force. And the characters — especially the Foxman — are shaped by it. It’s not flashy, but it’s honest, and sometimes that’s enough. This is a book for people who know what it feels like to be out there, where the world falls away and you’re left with yourself.
February 22, 2020
“Nameless--but not Heartless”
The fifteen-year-old unnamed narrator spends an autumn and winter
with his relatives in a far northern region, because of his family’s dysfunction and
and dangerous lifestyle. Together with his 17-year-old cousin, Carl, he learns to trap,
“read sign,” shoot and enjoy the freedom of sustainable forestry. Then when a fierce storm
causes them to stumble onto an isolated shack they enter, warily, to save their lives.
But self-preservation comes at a cost: their host’s face is so disfigured that he immediately
dons a mask, which only reveals his pained but compassionate eyes.
Over the weeks the Narrator finds himself drawn back to the recluse’s hut, but only
0n his own, on the sly. He not only burns to discover the reason for the mask, but feels a desire
to understand why most old soldiers love to recount their war stories—which the N. does not
find amusing. Although grateful for his uncle’s hospitality and affection, the N. insists on
learning more about the previous generation’s military struggles. He comes of age that rugged winter, but eventually faces a serious, adult moral dilemma re the fate of his secret friend.
Paulsen’s style is stark and direct; plus he deliberately refuses to name either
of the two main characters. Readers are introduced to various winter survival techniques--
as well as get a crash course in winter trapping. The disfigured host gradually takes on
a new persona in the N.’s mind: that of the Fox Man, for he proves uncannily sly to outfox that
crafty creature. For boys 16 and up, and kids of all ages.
February 22, 2020
The fifteen-year-old unnamed narrator spends an autumn and winter
with his relatives in a far northern region, because of his family’s dysfunction and
and dangerous lifestyle. Together with his 17-year-old cousin, Carl, he learns to trap,
“read sign,” shoot and enjoy the freedom of sustainable forestry. Then when a fierce storm
causes them to stumble onto an isolated shack they enter, warily, to save their lives.
But self-preservation comes at a cost: their host’s face is so disfigured that he immediately
dons a mask, which only reveals his pained but compassionate eyes.
Over the weeks the Narrator finds himself drawn back to the recluse’s hut, but only
0n his own, on the sly. He not only burns to discover the reason for the mask, but feels a desire
to understand why most old soldiers love to recount their war stories—which the N. does not
find amusing. Although grateful for his uncle’s hospitality and affection, the N. insists on
learning more about the previous generation’s military struggles. He comes of age that rugged winter, but eventually faces a serious, adult moral dilemma re the fate of his secret friend.
Paulsen’s style is stark and direct; plus he deliberately refuses to name either
of the two main characters. Readers are introduced to various winter survival techniques--
as well as get a crash course in winter trapping. The disfigured host gradually takes on
a new persona in the N.’s mind: that of the Fox Man, for he proves uncannily sly to outfox that
crafty creature. For boys 16 and up, and kids of all ages.
February 22, 2020
April 17, 2018
An unnamed narrator is forced to leave his home and his alcoholic parents to live at his uncle's farm. As he adjusts to farm life, he and his cousin one day run into a cabin deep in the woods where a horribly disfigured war veteran lives alone. The boy finds himself repeatedly visiting the "Foxman," as he calls him, and developing a bond with him.
I originally had a hard time getting into the story. Paulsen writes in a simple narrative style and is clearly enthusiastic about hunting and spending time in the woods-neither of which I'm really interested in. The first part of the book focuses mainly on the narrator's life on the farm-how he spends the summer, how he learns to trap creatures, etc. However, once the plotline involving the Foxman began, I got more invested in the story. It is a pretty simple bonding story, but beautiful in its simplicity. Paulsen seems to be aiming for more "universal truths" in the book's themes than for a unique story.
Also, the story seems to merely skim the themes of alcoholism and abuse instead of delving into the psychological effects that would have on a kid. While that makes for easier reading, it makes the character a bit less realistic and a bit more bland.
I would recommend this for younger readers, maybe fifth grade and up. This might appeal more to boys as well.
I originally had a hard time getting into the story. Paulsen writes in a simple narrative style and is clearly enthusiastic about hunting and spending time in the woods-neither of which I'm really interested in. The first part of the book focuses mainly on the narrator's life on the farm-how he spends the summer, how he learns to trap creatures, etc. However, once the plotline involving the Foxman began, I got more invested in the story. It is a pretty simple bonding story, but beautiful in its simplicity. Paulsen seems to be aiming for more "universal truths" in the book's themes than for a unique story.
Also, the story seems to merely skim the themes of alcoholism and abuse instead of delving into the psychological effects that would have on a kid. While that makes for easier reading, it makes the character a bit less realistic and a bit more bland.
I would recommend this for younger readers, maybe fifth grade and up. This might appeal more to boys as well.
December 6, 2023
In my quest to read some young adult novels that might appeal to my students, I have found a lot that I didn't like. This one is very readable, and I'm excited to introduce it to my 8th grade students.
The unnamed narrator is fifteen years old, and he has been taken from his parents and placed with his aunt and uncle, who live in a very rural area surrounded by forests and including lots of very hard farm work and labor. The narrator finds a home there, and a place that is safe where he can just... be. That feels like enough, until he and his cousin encounter the Foxman while lost in the woods during a storm.
In the Foxman, the narrator finds someone with whom he connects in a way he can't exactly quantify. In his own words, "I asked him things, and he always gave me an answer I could live with and which usually turned out to be right, or at least got me on the right track, and that's a kind of love. Having somebody do that for you." In the Foxman he finds the parental mentor that he didn't have in his parents, or even in his uncle and aunt.
The ending of the novel is sad and appropriate, and it leaves the reader wondering - in the best kind of way - what became of the narrator and what came next in his life. I hope for only good things...
The unnamed narrator is fifteen years old, and he has been taken from his parents and placed with his aunt and uncle, who live in a very rural area surrounded by forests and including lots of very hard farm work and labor. The narrator finds a home there, and a place that is safe where he can just... be. That feels like enough, until he and his cousin encounter the Foxman while lost in the woods during a storm.
In the Foxman, the narrator finds someone with whom he connects in a way he can't exactly quantify. In his own words, "I asked him things, and he always gave me an answer I could live with and which usually turned out to be right, or at least got me on the right track, and that's a kind of love. Having somebody do that for you." In the Foxman he finds the parental mentor that he didn't have in his parents, or even in his uncle and aunt.
The ending of the novel is sad and appropriate, and it leaves the reader wondering - in the best kind of way - what became of the narrator and what came next in his life. I hope for only good things...
June 28, 2017
Carl is send to live with his uncle in northern Minnesota after his parents "decided to stay drunk all the time." He finds life dull and boring until the winter time, when he and his cousin get to run a track line. The problem is, they go way to far, and are caught out in the open when a blizzard hits. Their one option, the cabin of a recluse. They end of staying with him, and as they leave Carl feels something about the man. He comes back, and they begin to talk about everything, including the story from the Korean War that the men of the farm glorify, but the Foxman sees as "science against beauty". But, he encourages Carl to try to see the good what they say about the war, "pluck the rose from the manure." The relationship deepens, but then an event happens that changes everything.
4 stars for a good story, but the anti-war message sometimes is a bit much.
4 stars for a good story, but the anti-war message sometimes is a bit much.
June 23, 2025
“Science kills beauty, time and time again.”
Title: The Foxman
Author: Gary Paulsen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a middle grade fiction book.
When Carl goes to live with his uncle and his family, he learns a lot about farming life, and how to trap animals in the winter. One winter he and his cousin go to set up a trap line and get caught in a winter storm. They come across a cabin where they meet a man they come to call The Foxman. As a few years pass Carl starts a friendship with the Foxman and that friendship becomes integral to Carl’s survival.
I really liked this book. It has great aspects of friendship. Also touches on some of the judgments we can have about the way a person looks. I really like the survival aspect of the story. Carl finding his family in extended family and with the Foxman. f
This was overall great little read.
Title: The Foxman
Author: Gary Paulsen
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is a middle grade fiction book.
When Carl goes to live with his uncle and his family, he learns a lot about farming life, and how to trap animals in the winter. One winter he and his cousin go to set up a trap line and get caught in a winter storm. They come across a cabin where they meet a man they come to call The Foxman. As a few years pass Carl starts a friendship with the Foxman and that friendship becomes integral to Carl’s survival.
I really liked this book. It has great aspects of friendship. Also touches on some of the judgments we can have about the way a person looks. I really like the survival aspect of the story. Carl finding his family in extended family and with the Foxman. f
This was overall great little read.
November 29, 2025
My younger brother gave me this book to read, because it is his new favorite. Very short, and very quick, I saw a lot of good in it. It’s a story of a young boy, who finds an old man to be his mentor. It’s important for boys to have men to look up to, to teach them things about life that they can’t know themselves. While I read it, I thought through my brother’s mind. I loved it!
It has themes of war. It contemplates the aftermath of something: does science destroy beauty? Can jokes make reason of something that was for nothing? The stories of war, are experienced by both the young boy narrator and a reader who has never experiences it before either.
I wish that we would have known more about the boy’s biological parents, but maybe that’s the reality of being sent away from a home that harms you, you never get any answers?
It has themes of war. It contemplates the aftermath of something: does science destroy beauty? Can jokes make reason of something that was for nothing? The stories of war, are experienced by both the young boy narrator and a reader who has never experiences it before either.
I wish that we would have known more about the boy’s biological parents, but maybe that’s the reality of being sent away from a home that harms you, you never get any answers?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2018
This book is the story about a boy who must go live on a farm with his cousins and aunt and uncle. He learns the meaning of real work and begins to love it there. He has even made a new friend when lost in the woods with his cousin one day he meets the foxman. The foxman is a war veteran who's sight is not the most handsome because of the war. He grows to admire and love the old man and learns from him.
I really enjoyed this story. It made me want to be a harder worker in my life. It made me want to have a more simpler life and not worry so much. I loved how the foxman was a type of mentor to the boy. It was an easy read and one I would recommend.
Content Warning:
-Stories of war.
-sexual implied content.
I really enjoyed this story. It made me want to be a harder worker in my life. It made me want to have a more simpler life and not worry so much. I loved how the foxman was a type of mentor to the boy. It was an easy read and one I would recommend.
Content Warning:
-Stories of war.
-sexual implied content.
January 4, 2018
The Foxman is a historical fiction book about a boy who got lost in the woods and found a little shack that turned out to be the Foxman's house. People who like adventure, mystery and books about the wilderness should read this book. After the boy finds the shack he talks to the Foxman but got nervous and left. But something was telling him to go back so he did and he kept going back and he didn't even now why. Then something goes wrong and the boy and the Foxman have a problem to solve. I liked the plot of the book and all of the adventures the characters go on. I also liked how much the main characters life changed because of him moving by the woods.
November 3, 2023
"So we crouched in back of a spruce and waited and in a couple of minutes a moose came out, a bull but with his antlers gone, and he was fine to see. He had the red eye and was mad at nothing and everything, the way moose get, and he plowed into that clearing in deep snow and he didn't look real, more like something from a dream, maybe a nightmare or a wild movie. He snorted and bellowed so the whole woods knew he was a moose, and if you didn't like it you could just come out into that clearing and he'd talk it over with you."
March 27, 2023
Yes, it is a young adult book. But I found a love of Gary Paulsen when I was a kid and have NEVER stopped enjoying his work. The Foxman is hands down, my favorite book to date. It paints beautiful scenery in your mind, and brings you to a simpler way of thinking and living. It also serves to make you look beyond the obvious, and consider how life events intertwine, and have an effect on the next chapter. I have read this book more times than I can count, and it is never far from my reach.
November 22, 2016
I have collected Gary Paulsen books for years. He writes primarily for the young adult reader but, even as an senior reader, I decided one day to start reading the books in my collection. My sister gave me a wonderful suggestion and when I get done with each book, I will donate it to one of the Little Libraries in my town.
May 24, 2022
Gary Paulsen's prose is so beautiful and graceful but simple. He perfectly captures the point of view of a young teenager and his relationship with his new family as well as his growing relationship with nature and the mysterious and wounded Foxman. This was really a masterpiece because of the spare and evocative descriptions and the unforgettable setting. What a wonderful book.
September 15, 2024
I fell in love with Gary Paulsen's writing after reading Hatchet in school back in the day.
I recall the day I found this in the library, it never did make it back to the stacks. I read it over and over, savoring it every time.
Even now, in my mid 30s, his books are a comfort to me. The Foxman is my favorite, and never far from hand.
I recall the day I found this in the library, it never did make it back to the stacks. I read it over and over, savoring it every time.
Even now, in my mid 30s, his books are a comfort to me. The Foxman is my favorite, and never far from hand.
November 7, 2016
I am trying to find books for my young sons to read. Why did he have to add the sexual parts? It did not add to the book at all. The rest of the story, about the foxman, was interesting. I wish he would have taken it further, it felt like there was so much more to the story and it just fell flat.
March 27, 2019
This was a short tale. I wanted a bit more. I think it’s amusing how off-putting I find the titles and covers of his books but man are they great reads.
Would be great for a reluctant reader, as all of Paulsen’s books seem to be.
Would be great for a reluctant reader, as all of Paulsen’s books seem to be.
November 16, 2017
i liked it
January 24, 2018
Easy to read, great plot, meaningful ending. Favorite book ever.
August 4, 2018
Beautiful, mystical, spiritual.
September 21, 2019
Quick read. Sorry it ended so quickly. I wanted to learn more about how the relationship would grow. Really caught my attention and carried me along. I'm just sorry there wasn't more to it.
March 1, 2020
Classic Paulsen, although there are some references to teen sex & pregnancy that haven’t been in the other works I’ve read of his (mostly I’ve just read his Brian/Hatchet series).
March 28, 2023
Tragic and moving, but pointless without a stronger conclusion
Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews