One Fox: A counting book thriller by Kate Read

A sly fox marches across endpapers covered with colorful paw prints, introducing this "thriller" of a counting book. "One famished fox" is the first page, with the fox, vivid in reds and oranges, curled against the white page. "Two sly eyes" shows a close-up of the fox's face, peering at a single blue feather. "Three plump hens" features the innocent victims of the fox's gaze, in yellow, orange, and olive. "Four padding paws" shows the slow stride of the fox's brown paws, her body hidden from the viewer's gaze. "Five snug eggs" takes the scene to night, with the hens sitting peacefully on their eggs against the black-grained wood of their coop.

The tension ramps up as the fox approaches, the perspective showing her larger-than-life tail blazing against the night, in the light of the moon, as she prowls about the hen house. She creeps in, the almost black page showing only the whites of the chicken's eyes and the fox's sharp teeth. Feathers fly and teeth gleam, but just when readers fear the worst, the count jumps to one hundred and a surprise ending for both the fox and the reader!

The vibrant reds and oranges of the fox blaze against the black of the night and the coop and the hens' ruffled feathers, in variety of soft shades, give a cozy, warm feeling that contrasts deliciously with the prowling fox. The humor in this book is subtle, until you reach the surprise denouement, but it's no less enjoyable for that. This is a debut picture book and the author/illustrator has managed to get the one thing that most trips up new picture book creators - letting the pictures tell the story and keeping the text to a minimum.

Verdict: Clever text and beautiful illustrations combine to create an excellent and unique debut picture book. I eagerly await more from this stellar new creator. Highly recommended.

ISBN: 9781682631317; Published October 2019 by Peachtree; F&G provided by publisher; Purchased for the library