One Fine Day
Written by Nonny Hogrogian
Children's Picture Book Ages 4-7
Rating: 4/5

A tale about a fox who drinks an old woman's milk and must journey through the entire forest on a "wild goose hunt" to get her the milk back, in exchange for his tail!

Opinion: The book is very good at building tension. The fox must get milk for the woman, but when he asks for favors they keep piling up until he has to get a bead for a maiden, an egg for a peddler, some grain for a hen, some grass for a cow, and so on. I feel very sorry for the fox who got his tail cut off! The illustrations really showed his emotions throughout the story, even though they are relatively simple. This book also won the Caldecott Medal, which is notable. At the end he got everything he needed and got his tail back, but the book never really reinforced what the moral was or had a clever punchline at the end...It just sort of ended!

Curriculum Connection: This book could be used in a lesson on borrowing or even stealing, as the fox drinks the milk that isn't his. The old man at the end is very generous and gives the fox grain without asking for anything in return, so generosity could be a topic. There are also a lot of parts to this story so it could be used in a listening activity, like "What did the maiden need?" "How about the hen?" And see how much the kids can remember.