Fox and Bear

 By: Miriam Körner

Junior Easy

    "Every day, Fox and Bear went into the forest to gather what there was to gather and to catch what there was to catch." So begins this picture book by award-winning Saskatchewan author, Miriam Körner.

    The two friends are happy and content, with plenty of time at the end of each day for Fox to bury the treasures he has collected and for Bear to watch the sun set.

    But then Fox gets an idea: What if they didn't have to hunt and gather all the time?  They would have even more time to enjoy treasures and watch the sunsets.

    So begins their transition from becoming hunter/gatherers to industrialists. The story is told in a gentle and age-appropriate way so that children learn that the more Fox and Bear try to save their time by growing food and cutting down the forest to make bigger and bigger machines to do all the work they are creating, the less time they have to enjoy the things they love to do.

    Körner illustrated the book with recycled paper cut-outs and cardboard dioramas that add a unique 3-D quality to the pages.

    This is an important book that provides food for thought about the way our societies work, the ecological impact of our drive towards excess, and the things that we value in our modern lives.  It provides a gentle lesson about being satisfied with enough and not taking for granted the beauty around us in pursuit of things that don't always bring us joy.

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