Der Ruf des Mondsteins

White Fox #1

by Chen Jiatong, Viola Wang (Illustrator), Ulrike Köbele (Translator)

Ein Geheimnis, mit dem Leben geschützt Polarfuchs Dilah wünscht sich nichts sehnlicher, als ein Mensch zu sein. Bevor seine Mutter stirbt, vermacht sie ihm etwas ganz Besonderes: den sagenumwobenen Mondstein, der seinen Wunsch erfüllen könnte. Dilah folgt dem Ruf des magischen Steins und macht sich auf eine Reise. Unterwegs muss er sich vor kaltblütigen Menschen in Acht nehmen, aber auch die Natur ist unberechenbar. Und im Dickicht lauern feindlich gesinnte Clans, die es auf Dilah und sein mächtiges Erbe abgesehen haben … Start der berührenden und actionreichen Tierfantasy Der erste Band einer großen neuen Tierfantasy ab 9 Jahren, geschrieben von dem chinesischen Bestseller-Autor Cheng Jiatong. Coolness und Magie treffen Spannung, Action und Natur! Ein packendes Abenteuer rund um einen Polarfuchs, eine große Mission und eine gefährliche Reise. In dieser modernen Parabel liegen Gut und Böse sowie Freunde und Feinde ganz nah beieinander. Mit stimmungsvollen Illustrationen von Viola Wang. Für alle Fantasy-Fans von Woodwalkers und Animox. Der Titel ist bei Antolin gelistet.

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Animals, Fiction, Childrens, Adventure, Magic

280 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2014

About the author

Chen Jiatong is the English name for Chinese author 陈佳同, who was born on February 17, 1987 in Shandong province, China.
See also: 陈佳同

He graduated from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2012 with a master's degree and is currently engaged in international trade.
Chen Jiatong loves fairy tales and likes to immerse himself in a fantasy world. When he has time, he will compile his own ideas into short stories and share them with friends around him.
When he was a child, he saw a mysterious silver figure by the bedroom window, which gave him the inspiration to create fantasy stories. Seventeen years later, he turned this inspiration into a 200,000-word fairy tale novel "White Fox Dila and Moonstone". In 2015, this book was selected as one of the "100 Excellent Books" recommended by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television to young people across the country. In 2016, it was recommended by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission as a must-read book for primary school students.

Reviews

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m on BookTube now! =)

”Don’t hate all humans because of what happened to us. There are both good and evil humans: you need to see that for yourself.”

Okay, I’ll be honest here: One of the main reasons why I decided to read this book was the white fox on the cover. =) As you all know I love foxes and they are my spiritual animal so when I saw a book that didn’t only have a fox on the cover but also had the word in the title I just couldn’t resist! And I’m so glad I picked up “White Fox” because it was exactly what I needed. I’ve been constantly fighting against a work- and life-induced reading slump those last couple of months and sometimes you just need a short and enjoyable middle grade book to get away from reality. Well, at least for a little while so you can recharge your batteries and this book was exactly that.

”For the first time, he wondered if he really wanted to be a human at all. How could they be so heartless?”

So what is “White Fox” about? Basically it’s a book about Dilah the fox who wants to become human after his parents are killed by a hunter. With her last breath his mother hands him a mysterious moonstone that is supposed to guide him to a place where he can become human. Since nothing holds him anymore Dilah starts his journey with the moonstone but he isn’t the only fox that wants to be human and soon he is followed by a pack of blue foxes that are led by their ruthless leader Carl. On his way Dilah meets humans and other animals and forms many friendships while he tries to solve the mystery of the moonstone.

”Why wouldn’t she give him a chance? He hadn’t done anything wrong. He liked Ankel and he happened to be a fox – what was wrong with that?”

On the one hand this was a very sad story. There is a lot of loss and Dilah isn’t always welcome at the places he visits. Many of the animals have prejudices against him and Dilah doesn’t understand why they can’t see past their fear. I really loved this aspect of the book because it doesn’t only address the countless prejudices we have to face in our lives but also provides us with solutions to fight against them. Of course it doesn’t always work, but despite all odds Dilah always makes friends among the different animals because they refuse to be led by their own fear and prejudices. Sometimes the author allows the characters to voice it very clearly and I really loved this about the book.

”She’s done nothing wrong! What’s wrong is your prejudice, your fear of humans and your own cowardice!”

I absolutely adored Ankel the weasel and his friendship with Dilah was amazing! Little Bean was a very precious character as well and I felt so sorry for him but at the same time I was glad that he helped Ankel and Dilah when no one else would have. Seriously, despite all the sad parts this was such a lovely and heart-warming story and the beautiful illustrations by Viola Wang only made this an even more enjoyable read.

Conclusion:

All told this was a really great book and the strong bonds and the friendships between the characters were amazing! Since it was a short read I was through it in no time, but I really appreciated all the life-lessons that were taught in here. =) The ending was pretty open and as it seems there is actually going to be a second book?! I’ll definitely make sure to watch out for it because I’m sure at some point of my life it might once again turn out to be exactly what I need. ;-)

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This was such a lovely and heart-warming story and I absolutely loved the illustrations by Viola Wang! It’s a sad story though but the strong friendships make up for it. XD

Full RTC soon! I’ll make sure to write a little bit more because the book definitely deserves it! <3

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Okay, I admit it! I chose this book because of its name and the beautiful cover! <3
I mean if there’s a white fox in it I just can’t resist, especially if the book is from the foxes POV! Like yay! 😊
As far as I can tell from the blurb this is a children’s book so I guess I’ll be done with it in no time.

Did any of you read this already and if yes, did you like it? =)

[Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why was there a cliffhanger just why.

[Athena (OneReadingNurse) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own!

This is such a great book for middle graders. Dilah, an adolescent fox with no friends, sets off on a quest after his parents die. All he has is a gem and some cryptic instructions, and his mother's last words to send him on his way!

Along the journey Dilah meets some unlikely friends - a seal, weasel, horse, and rabbit. Each new friend shows him something about friendship and two of them join the adventure. Ankel is a clever weasel who wants to learn everything and become a scholar, while Little Bean is a rabbit that has a great interest in medicine. The main message of the book seems to be to value your friends and their contributions.

Additionally Dilah learns that everything in the world isn't so black and white as he originally thought. Of course he wants to become a human - but there are also very evil humans as well as the good ones. There are also bad animals.

The cover art is just beautiful and there are many great illustrations along the way too.

Ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, I totally think that middle graders will love this. Content is appropriate but does mention parental death.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I appreciate non-English books being translated for American audiences, there is quickly the issue of how do we translate a novel. Do we go word-for-word or line-by-line crafting the closest possible English version of the Chinese best seller or do we get loosey goosey and try to capture the same rhythm, tone, sentence structure, meaning, feel, etc. White Fox falls too far into the former. Before I even talk about the actual content of the story, I have to point out that this is already an inferior version of Chen Jiatong's book and without learning Chinese, this is all I have to go on. Perhaps Chen wrote a beautiful, elegant series of lines that would have wowed me, but this version didn't. Most of the lines are clunky, stilted, and unnatural and for a story that is trying to be fantastical, the descriptions and adjectives don't have any heart. I never get any long paragraphs painting a wondrous picture of a setting or a character. Again, this is specifically about the version of the story that Jennifer Feeley gives us and I can't speak to Chen's writing. The story, however, I can blame on Chen. It feels like a studio children's movie where a board of directors were constantly saying, "It's a stupid kids' movie, it doesn't need to be good; it's for kids." White Fox feels like a story a mother would tell to a small child, just on paper. Yeah, that sounds good, but those aren't often well planned and crafted stories taking place within a slowly building mythology. This is an incredibly cliche and bare bones story that slowly plots along during what should be down time and then racing through actual plot events. I won't veer into spoiler territory, but White Fox is very much about a journey from Point A to Point B with small scenes in-between to serve as bumps in the road. Much of what happens in-between are little blips that are essentially poorly told, ham-fisted fables that aren't really relevant to the larger story. White Fox is boring, slow, and uneventful and by the time I got to the cliff-hanger ending, I just wanted the story to be over. I guess the strength of the book is its themes, but Chen is so blunt and obvious with them that it's more grating than enlightening. True, this book is marketed for third through seventh grade, so I wasn't expecting anything weighty or complex and we do get some ideas that are interesting for what is essentially a middle school novel, but just because it is for kids, doesn't mean it has to be childish. Everything here is too simplistic: the themes are watered down, the characters are underdeveloped, the plot is hollow and uneventful, the setting is dull, and the scenes that should have gravitas feel unearned because we rushed and skipped through the set-up and establishing bits. Even if we narrow the marketing scope down to the bottom of the range and say this book is specifically for third graders and we then compare White Fox to other novels marketed toward that age (Magic Tree House, Charlotte's Web, James and the Giant Peach, etc) we can see that so much more can be done. Our lead, Dilah, is has no personality other than being a Mary Sue and his companions have even less. Much less important than the story and how it is told is the unnecessary artwork inside the book. The cover is fine, but the art inside is terrible. The distribution of the art is seemingly random as it isn't there at major events nor is it every couple of pages or chapters; it's just a handful throughout the whole book. The few we do get would be impressive if done by the audience of the book, but are, unfortunately, not. They are sloppy, lazy, and remind me of when we did thumbprint art in preschool, where you dip your finger in paint, make a paint fingerprint on the paper, and then turn that spot into a mouse or a turkey or whatever. The art here doesn't enhance the story and it doesn't help us visualize the setting or characters; it's only effect is to take up space. As a whole, White Fox is very disappointing and even if you lower your standards and view it specifically as a book for children, kids can handle (and deserve) a much better novel than this.

[Selina · Rating 2 out of 5]

On the one hand this is a nice friendship story which tackles important subjects like death, environmental issues, cultural issues, pejudice while showing there is no black and white and including animal folklore, but on the other hand, as many things I want to criticise.

1. While the fox on the cover is definitely authentic and amazing (even though it looks more like a red fox with white fur than a polar fox) the illustrations on the inside are not even close to how a polar fox looks like. A polar bear, more likely. The art was not appealing and looked overly simplified.
2. I have to assume that the book is written beautifully in Chinese. Maybe even in English. But the German translation is clunky, simplistic and not beautiful at all. To worsen it, they changes some names of the characters to make them sound more German, which was a terrible decision in my opinion.
3. The plot iself had big pacing problems and ended up with some big genre tropes.
Worst part? This is only half the story.

I am not really impressed, but I might want to continue to know if Dilah can really transform into a human.

[Lauralee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eine hübsche Idee, die mich in ihrer Umsetzung letztlich aber nicht überzeugen konnte.

Der Schreibstil ist Mal sehr märchenhaft und gehoben in der Ausdrucksweise, dann wieder eher kindlich umgangssprachlich (was auch an der Übersetzung liegen könnte), und bleibt eher distanziert beobachtend - für mich hat sich keine enge Bindung zu den Figuren ergeben, kein besonderes Einfühlen oder Mitfiebern.

Und auch der Verlauf der Geschichte selbst hat für mich nicht für besondere Spannung gesorgt, weil die Geschichte in Stationen verläuft, die wenig miteinander verknüpft werden. Auf der Reise kommt es zu immer neuen Begegnungen, teilweise durchaus auch zu spannenden Szenen, aber die meisten davon werden danach ohne Einfluss auf die weitere Geschichte zurückgelassen, sodass ich mich oft gefragt habe, warum diese Episode überhaupt erzählt wurde. Hinzukommt, dass ich einen großen Teil der Figuren eher unsympathisch fand.

Unter'm Strich für mich leider eher enttäuschend. Ich werde keinen zweiten Teil lesen.

[Stephie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really sweet children’s book that doesn’t shy away from death, prejudice and the terrible impact humans have had on animals. I was initially drawn to this because of its beautiful cover, which was illustrated by Viola Wang, and am glad to say I enjoyed the story as well, even though I am an adult. I think this would be a great book for 9-12 year olds, particularly those who love animals and care about the environment. I am looking forward to part two.

[Mari-WA160817 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Als Hörbuch zusammen mit meinem Sohn gehört. Wir freuen uns auch schon sehr auf die nächsten zwei Bände. Eine ganz wunderbare Geschichte.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ein nettes Buch für jüngere Leser

Die Geschichte des kleinen Polarfuchses Dilah unterteilt sich in verschiedene, kurze Abenteuer. Die Sprache ist relativ einfach und die Entwicklung sehr linear. Es gibt keine großen Überraschungen und es ist sicherlich kein literarisches Meisterwerk, sondern nette Unterhaltung für Kinder. Allerdings könnten die vielen Tode von Eltern für kleinere Kinder zu grausig sein.

[Aileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nunja, es war eher so lala. Die Handlung ist zwar gut gemacht und die Grundidee sicher auch, aber es konnte mich dennoch eher schwer "abholen". Aber vielleicht gebe ich dem Ganzen in den folgenden Bänden ja nochmal später eine Chance und wenn es auch nur ist, um zu erfahren wie die Beziehung von Dilah und seinem (hasserfüllten) wiedergefundem Bruder Aljosha weitergeht.

[Riley]

i picked the wrong white fox but when alsace betrays dilah i was suprised

[Havelah McLat · Rating 5 out of 5]

❄️Book review for White Fox❄️

I believe it was last year I saw the title and was intrigued by the blurb. I finally got a chance to read it. My heart melted by the time I finished the book. Gosh the cliffhanger. I must read the sequel! I love the wholesome story about friendship, sprinkle of mystery and adventure. It is such a sweet story and yes you will laugh, cry, and melt. I highly recommend it.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exciting read, and a tightly-written and tightly-plotted narrative, about young Arctic fox, Dilah, and his quest: his parents bequeathed him a moonstone that points to a distant, unknown magic treasure, one that might make an animal become human. For all that, the book is mostly a darker journey -- in some ways it reminds me of Bambi, the original novel by Felix Salten, in that he encounters humans, death, enslavement of animals, hunters, human pollution. Animals also represent dangers: predators, rivals, and a band of enemy foxes seeking the moonstone. Dilah does find friends along the way, who help him and in some cases accompany him on this quest.

The English translation is a smooth, apt read. There are a few b&w illustrations, sparse but beautiful, and the typeface is slightly larger than normal, so younger readers (or those who read to them) will find it easy going. Also, it's not really a spoiler to say -- given that this is #1 of this saga -- that the book ends in a terrifying climax, and a cliffhanger. More of this series are in the works, apparently, and they will be something to look forward to.

(Read in advance-reading copy via Amazon Vine).

[Julietta M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing adventure. What a cliffhanger. A next book is definitely needed. I must know!!!!!!!

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Scholastic Canada in exchange for an honest review.

A young while fox named Dilah is set on an adventure after tragedy strikes his family. Before his mother passes, she gives him a package and a long-secret. If he were to succeed in finding the treasure, he will find a power to make an animal human. Dilah sets off but he soon finds that there are others who are after the moonstone that was in the package left to him by his mother. In his journey to find the treasure, he makes new friends and also discovers the duality of human nature.

While I’m always up for a good adventure story, I was a little let down by this particular one. I enjoyed the friendships that Dilah made along the way but parts of the story and plot seemed to drag out unnecessarily. I thought it was strange how desperate Dilah would be to get moving in one chapter, and then for him to just take his time and stay in one location for days. Despite the continued threat of those who were after him and the moonstone. There also seemed to be a lot of parental deaths and betrayals (animals and humans) in this story. Far more than I expected from a middle grade adventure story. I think there were promising elements to the story (friendship, animal folklore) but generally, this story missed its mark for me. Thank you to Scholastic Canada for gifting me a copy of the book.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai passé un bon moment. Les chapitres s'enchaînent facilement, l'histoire est bien développée, la fin laisse présager une histoire plus profonde que ce que je pensais au début. Malgré tout j'ai trouvé qu'il n'y avait aucun style dans l'écriture. Beaucoup de facilités dans le scénario. Mais des personnages attachants, une belle histoire d'amitié. La scène au tribunal des lapins m'a vraiment angoissée.
Bref, de bonnes idées mais il aurait peut-être fallut le travailler un peu plus avant de le publier je pense.

[Shel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’d rate it 2/5 for myself - nothing too exciting and I can’t speak for the original Chinese, but the translation is kind of clunky and doesn’t flow well at all.

But, my ten year old LOVED it and begged me to get him the sequel the minute it came out, so anything that gets my kid to read gets an extra star from me!

[MacKenzie Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really great besides it just left on a cliff hanger and there is not another book out that follows this one.

[Awhona K.G. Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful story filled with wisdom and environmental awareness - White Fox throws its spotlight on the brute savageness and insensitivity of humans as a race amongst various existing living species & this story is narrated from the eyes of an Arctic Fox Cub & his friends as they come together to fulfill a common goal - a treasure hunt which will help them to become the most dangerous being they fear- humans! The plot follows Dilah - a happy Arctic Fox cub who lives happily with his parents in the snow laden Arctic regions however - they are a nuclear family & keep traveling & changing  their caves of residence frequently. Besides listening to his mother's stories and basking in the love and warmth of his father & mother Dilah also loves watching humans- their colorful life & ingenious inventions & machines. On a fateful day , when he's a bit late returning home, he finds his mother returning home badly wounded & his father killed by a hunter - a human! Dilah is terrified & confused & his mother narrates a last story about the secret treasure  of the Arctic foxes and with that Dilah is instructed to embark on a journey with this secret treasure which he needs to guard with his life till he finds the patron Saint of the Artic Foxes called Ulla. Dilah's mother passes away shortly and Dilah wastes no time in finding the package & darts off to escape the bitter blizzard . As he rushes he is ambushed by another tribe of the Artic foxes ' the blue tribe & their leader Carl demands the treasure from Dilah.Dilah narrowly escapes by plunging down from a cliff top and is almost saved from drowning by an Arctic seal whom Dilah befriends later on.Thus begins the journey of Dilah's many adventures & with each friend he makes on his way - he learns a bit more about himself & the values of friendship, trust, loyalty, steadfastness, wisdom, & pragmatism .
A lot is mentioned as far as climate change goes, forest tree poaching, animal skin poaching for furs and skins and many more environmental factors glaring at us humans.
Thoroughly enjoyed this book & learnt a lot from Dilah's journey.

My booktube bookreview link is given below :
https://youtu.be/B7UbM3tl9u4

[LadyMuffinchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein guter und schön geschriebener Auftakt der Fantasy Reihe um den Polarfuchs Dilah 🦊

Der kleine Polarfuchs Dilah wächst behütet auf und einzig allein Freunde fehlen zu seinem Glück. Doch vom einem auf den anderen Tag sind auf einmal seine Eltern nicht mehr und Dilah wird mit dem Vermächtnis der Füchse betraut. Dieses soll Dilahs Wunsch erfüllen ein Mensch werden zu können. So stürzt er sich ins Abenteuer, dabei wird er gejagd, aber er lernt auch viele Tiere kennen. So stellt sich Dilah der Aufgabe und den Tücken der Natur.

Bereits zu Beginn wird klar, dass hier keine kuschelige Geschichte vorliegt. Dilahs Eltern werden getötet und der Tod der Mutter ist für Kinder von 8 Jahren schon traurig gestaltet. Die Handlung ist jedoch ziemlich gut geschildert und umgesetzt. Alles ist nachvollziehbar und Dilah ist ein wirklich sympathischer kleiner Polarfuchs. Er muss auf dieser Reise lernen, was Gut und Böse ist. Dabei wird klar, dass der Schein manchmal trügt und die Menschen nicht alle nur gut oder böse sind. Für die wenigen Seiten sind die Abenteuer und die Tiere immer gut beschrieben. Die Reise rund um Dilah und den Mondstein ist wunderbar anschaulich, nachvollziehbar, emotional, als auch spannend. Eine sehr gut ausgewogene Mischung, die die Neugierde schürt.

Das Buch würde ich pauschal nicht nur für Kinder empfehlen. Generell finde ich, dass es die Realität gut widerspiegelt, vielleicht daher nicht unbedingt etwas für zwart besaitete Kinder. Jedoch können auch Erwachsene hier auf ihre Kosten kommen, soweit sie kein phänomenales Fantasyepos erwarten. Aber die Message wird vermittelt, man kann sich alles vorstellen und ich hoffe auch eine gute Fortsetzung der Geschichte.

Insgesamt kann ich das Buch wärmstens empfehlen 🌕

[Julie J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

ENGLISH VERSION BELOW

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"Der Ruf des Mondsteins" von Chen Jiatong ist ein Kinderroman, der seine Leser:innen in eine Welt voller Abenteuer und Fantasie entführt. Während das Buch mit seinem originellen Setting das Potenzial hat, zu fesseln, hinterlässt es nach dem Zuschlagen der letzten Seite ein Gefühl der Irritation. Es gibt sehr gewaltsame Szenen, bei denen sich mir der Mehrwert der Gewalt nicht erschlossen hat. Zudem mag ich persönlich jene Bücher nicht, in denen die Hauptfigur etappenhaft immer wieder neue Freunde findet, weiterzieht und diese kommen dann nie wieder vor.

Der Plot des Buches ist was Neues, der Einband ist wunderschön, leider jedoch gab es diese eine Szene inkl. Mord, deren Zweck sich mir absolut nicht erschließt, außer dass Dilah (der weiße Fuchs in der Hauptfigur) wieder weiterzieht.

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"The White Fox" by Chen Jiatong is a children's novel that transports its readers into a world full of adventure and fantasy. While the book has the potential to captivate with its original setting, it leaves a feeling of irritation after turning the last page. There are very violent scenes where the added value of the violence was not clear to me. In addition, I personally don't like books in which the main character gradually makes new friends, moves on and then never meets them again.

The plot of the book is something new, the cover is beautiful, but unfortunately there was this one scene including a murder, the purpose of which is absolutely not clear to me, except that Dilah (the white fox in the main character) moves on again.

[Julicke · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fine middle-grade story, but I expected it to be more of a magical adventure than it turned out to be. Once Dilah set out on his quest, the story turned into a recurring pattern of Dilah meeting some new animal, causing some trouble for them and finally solving the issue and gaining a new friend. It got a bit repetitive and boring after a while. On the whole, the story felt a bit disjointed, torn between the seriousness of the magical (and surprisingly violent) quest on the one hand and a cute story about making new friends and learning about different animals on the other. Those two elements draw very different types of readers, which makes this a tricky book to recommend.

There were also a bunch of things about the animal world that weren't adressed, like how animals like Dilah van read and how they developed writing systems in the first place. Or how the turtle somehow has a pair of glasses. Details that might be overlooked, but which a perceptive child would pick up on. Maybe they're adressed in the later books, I don't know. Also, the ending was just really unsatisfying. I don't mind the cliffhanger per se, but it was a rather random point in the plot to end on.

This may sound overly critical for a kids book, but kids deserve good literature dammit! Not that this was bad per se. I liked Dilah as a character, the bits of magic and glimpses of animal culture, and how the story didn't shy away from violence and even death. Other than that it was just kinda meh.

[Larissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a book that rips your heart out in the first ten pages, White Fox by Chen Jiatong is for you. It starts off brutally, but with every page, your heart slowly heals.

This beautifully written story follows Dilah, a young fox who loses both his parents on the same day. Before she dies, his mother shares a powerful secret—a legend of a hidden treasure that can turn animals into humans. Buried beneath their home lies the first clue, and with nothing left to lose, Dilah sets out on a journey to find it, guided only by a mysterious stone and his own heart. Along the way, he encounters unexpected friendships, including one that seems impossible—a fox and a weasel?

At its core, White Fox is a story of friendship, perseverance, and hope. It teaches the importance of pushing forward, even when everything seems hopeless, and embracing unlikely allies along the way.

With a heartbreaking start and a healing journey, this book is a fantastic read for children ages nine and up. A solid 4⭐️-story that ends in a thrilling cliffhanger.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this out loud with my 13 year old son. He liked it, but it was not one that I particularly enjoyed. The writing and style seemed pretty simplistic and below his reading level, but it was definitely too violent to be something my younger daughter would be interested in reading. It bothered me that a lot of questions were raised about whether it would actually be good for any of the animal friends to actually turn human without resolving them (I mean, it was bad enough that it was a story about animals on quest to find a treasure to make them human in the 1st place, but if you can get past the fact that that's the premise of the entire book to begin with, then at least give them a clear stance on it!). I was also really annoyed to find that there was no conclusion to the story.

[Riesenzumsel · Rating 1 out of 5]

ich kann es nicht weiterlesen. einer meiner Schüler hat dieses buch in unserer buchclub-ag vorgestellt und total genial beschrieben. die Idee dahinter find ich weiterhin grandios, inhaltlich soweit auch gut. teilweise fand ich es fad geschrieben bzw eintönig - klar, Kinderbuch, aber auch die können mehr. und dann kam das ständig unangenehm wechselnde erzähltempo dazu, Figuren werden eingeführt und voraussichtlich nicht mehr wichtig. Familien werden kennengelernt, Intrigen aufgedeckt, es ist endlich wieder spannend, und Zack, im nächsten Kapitel kein Wort davon, dilah ist weiter gewandert.
nicht das draus gemacht, was es hätte werden können. schade. vielleicht ist es das etwas mehr in anderen Sprachen.

[Davina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich frage mich, was mich die Geschichte lehren soll? „Menschen sind böse und grausam, Tiere aber auch!“ Bis auf wenige Ausnahmen unter den Tieren und Menschen zeichnen sich die Figuren durch Brutalität, Grausamkeit und Hinterhältigkeit aus. Warum es als Kinderbuch gehandelt wird, verstehe ich nicht. Viele Szenen empfand ich als Erwachsene eher verstörend, die Tiere gingen größtenteils sehr schlecht miteinander um und die Menschen sind auch nicht besser, sondern morden aus Profitgier. Immer, wenn ich hoffte, dass es etwas ruhiger wird und auf die angepriesenen Fantasyelemente, vielleicht auch etwas Humor wartete, befanden sich Dilah und seine Freunde wieder einmal in Lebensgefahr und mussten schleunigst fliehen. Ich hoffe wirklich, dass der zweite Band etwas ruhiger und besser wird. Für mich bis dahin ein absoluter Fehlkauf, vielleicht hatte ich auch einfach zu hohe Erwartungen oder wurde von dem sehr, sehr schönen Cover geblendet.

[JBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Durch das Hörbuch hab ich das Buch in 2 Tagen durch gehabt :)
Hätte es wohl auch in 2 oder 3 Tage durch gelesen, aber so konnte ich neben bei was machen ;)

Die Alterempfehlung ab 9 Jahren finde ich ziemlich niedrig angesetzt.
Es wird im Buch sehr viel über die Tiere geschrieben (geht ja um einen weißen Fuchs xD) und das eben fressen und gefressen werden auch aufgenommen.

Aber ob da ein 9 oder 10 Jähriger schon gut damit klar kommt? :/
Auch kommt im Buch ein Mord an 2 Menschen drin vor.

Da hätte ich es gern, dass es ab 12/13 empfohlen würde

[Nicole M. Hewitt]

Fun adventurous story that will be great for readers who love Erin Hunter. The book highlights the many strengths of friendship and sticking with your friends through thick and thin. There are some deaths in the book, so more sensitive readers might be upset by that.

[Grace Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was sad,happy, and exiting all at the same time! I can not wait to read the next one!!!

[Viola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das Buch ist mega super Riesen toll!♥️♥️♥️😂😂😂