Here are 100 books that The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night fans have personally recommended if you like
The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night.
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As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
A great Thanksgiving treat. “Dancin’ in the kitchen. The family’s packed in tight. I think we may be dancin’ in the kitchin’ all night!” The family cooks, sets the table, and eats…all while dancing and chanting along. Get your beat going. Hand out spoons to beat on pans and rock along with this joyful picture book. All the way to the end, “Grandpa does the washin’. We all pitch in to dry. We’re still dancin’ in the kitchen, with the radio way up high!”
Dinner time is dancin' at Grandma's house while the chicken and dumplings simmer on the stove and all three generations of the family groove to the music on the kitchen radio, working up generous appetites.
As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
“Mommy, buy me a China Doll, Do, Mommy Do,” but, “What could I buy it with, Eliza Lou?” Eliza Lou has many suggestions…trade our Daddy’s feather bed…"Then where would Daddy sleep”…He could sleep in the horsey’s bed. “Then where would horsey sleep”…and on and on until Eliza ends up asleep herself…on Mommy’s lap. A soothing lullaby with or without the evocative illustrations by the Zemach team.
"When Mommy wonders how to get a china doll for Eliza Lou, Eliza suggests they trade Daddy's featherbed...The ridiculous swapping of sleeping places is aptly portrayed in strong, boldly drawn, colored illustrations which underline the humor and folk quality of the lilting cumulative verses. A deliciously funny picture book for small children."-Booklist
As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
This is a perfect, soothing lullaby. “Bears are sleeping, deer are sleeping, snow is piling high. Even hungry wolves are sleeping…hush and bye you bye..” Soft, blurry illustrations of sleeping animals in a snowy Russian countryside. Notes for the lullaby run along the bottom of the pages. My daughters loved this gentle bedtime book, a last…quiet book before kissing them goodnight.
As a Children’s Librarian for over 30 years, my passion has been for the sound of language. I want children to hear rhythmic, joyful language that will make them fall in love with words. My own career as a storyteller and author continues this same love of language. I try to write my own picture books in such a way that any adult who picks them up will read them out with the same kind of verve and joy that I put into them.
This tale is one long, rousty chant. “Big Black Bear came out of the woods. Stuck his nose in the air and smelled something good!” Just keep that chanting going as Big Black Bear threatens Little Girl and creates havoc in her house, then is caught by Momma Bear and made to apologize. “I’m very sorry, please excuse me. I’m a little black bear, who just turned three.”
Big Black Bear learns his manners after he barges in on Little Girl at the Brown Brick House on Sycamore Street. By the author of Eek! There's a Mouse in the House.
I’m a poet, children’s writer, and songwriter from Drogheda, Ireland. Ballads were always part of my family life. My favourite uncle, Gerry Cullen, is a song collector and singer who was central to the revival of folk singing in Drogheda. It was only when I embarked on a Creative Writing PhD in 2015 that I fully recognised the influence of ballads on my work. This has brought me deeper into ballad studies and I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin to reclaim lost street poets and tenement balladeers of 19th-century Ireland. For me, the ballad is a peerless narrative form: compact, rhyming, rhythmic, and memorable.
“Wise old man, can you help me please? My house is a squash and a squeeze!” Julia Donaldson is a songwriter turned picture-book writer who acknowledges that her song skills have been key to her successful books. She’s an inspiration to slow starters everywhere: this, her first book, was published in 1993, 18 years after she wrote the song for a BBC children’s programme! It’s a boisterous retelling of an eastern European folktale, where an old woman, who complains that her house is too small, is advised to take in some animals. When she lets them all out again, the house feels huge! Donaldson has recorded many of her songs on CDs such as The Gruffalo Song and Other Songs. But her first “song” book is my favourite!
"Wise old man, won't you help me, please? My house is a squash and squeeze."
Visit the farm in the brilliantly funny A Squash and a Squeeze, the first ever picture book written and illustrated by the unparalleled picture book partnership of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, creators of The Gruffalo.
A little old lady lives all by herself in her house but she's not happy - it's just too small, even for one. Whatever can she do? The wise old man knows: bring in a flappy, scratchy, greedy, noisy crowd of farmyard animals. When she pushes them all out…
I’m a poet, children’s writer, and songwriter from Drogheda, Ireland. Ballads were always part of my family life. My favourite uncle, Gerry Cullen, is a song collector and singer who was central to the revival of folk singing in Drogheda. It was only when I embarked on a Creative Writing PhD in 2015 that I fully recognised the influence of ballads on my work. This has brought me deeper into ballad studies and I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin to reclaim lost street poets and tenement balladeers of 19th-century Ireland. For me, the ballad is a peerless narrative form: compact, rhyming, rhythmic, and memorable.
Galway-based writer Kate Thompson heard the Scottish folk song "Annan Water" in her local pub. It tells of a doomed rider who crosses a flooded river to meet his Annie. Thompson fills out the sparse narrative into a modern setting, and makes the ballad a character in her story when Michael is haunted by the words: "And woe betide you, Annan Water / By night you are a gloomy river." She harnesses its resonance, harness being apt as the story centres around Michael's horse-dealing family as well as his attraction to another Annie. There is tragedy in the story, as in the ballad—Thompson believes children should not be protected from death. Certainly children brought up on ballads, as I was, face sisters killing sisters, hangings, and, of course, drownings.
. Michael first sees Annie one morning on the banks of Annan Water, when he is out exercising two horses from his parents` stables. That first impression of her never leaves him. She triggers in him a desire to get to know and understand her and in doing so, to understand himself . Complicated by the fact that he is haunted by the tune and words of a song about the Annan Water, he finds there is no easy answer to the way he must go- to get to know Annie seems as impossible as interpreting the words of the…
I’m a poet, children’s writer, and songwriter from Drogheda, Ireland. Ballads were always part of my family life. My favourite uncle, Gerry Cullen, is a song collector and singer who was central to the revival of folk singing in Drogheda. It was only when I embarked on a Creative Writing PhD in 2015 that I fully recognised the influence of ballads on my work. This has brought me deeper into ballad studies and I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin to reclaim lost street poets and tenement balladeers of 19th-century Ireland. For me, the ballad is a peerless narrative form: compact, rhyming, rhythmic, and memorable.
Patricia Forde is one of the stars of Irish writing, and this magical book was always meant to inspire a song. It’s the story of Fia, who longs to visit the mythical island of Hy Brasil, and finally reaches it by walking across a moonbeam. Her adventures with creatures, real and legendary, are realised in glowing illustrations by Nicola Bernardelli. The book was commissioned by Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture with versions in Irish and in English. Local composer Anna Mullarkey wrote a song to accompany it. Story, song, and pictures combine to show how a child’s imagination becomes part of the enchantment of a special place: “Fia felt the pull of magic in the air / and the pull of her own strong heart.”
Fia looks out her window and across the bay. She longs to see the mysterious island, which appears and disappears in the water.
One night a moonbeam reaches across the bay and leads her to the island. She walks with magical creatures, dances with a host of girls and boys, and visits the bottom of the sea and the stars in space.
Lyrical text with gorgeous colour illustrations, from a multi-award-winning Irish author. Based on the mythical Irish island of Hy Brasil, which lies off the west coast of Galway.
I was born and raised in Durham, North Carolina where I was loved, nurtured, and mentored by several brilliant, creative, and powerful Black women. One of those women was Dr. Maya Angelou, who was close with my Grandmother, Queen Mother Frances Pierce, and was my mom's God-Mother. She and the other authors on this list are all women who I respect professionally and love dearly. I am a picture book author, a Grammy-nominated children's musician, and a father of two. I have read these stories to my children and am so proud to live in the great state of North Carolina with so many talented, genuine, and inspirational Black women.
Fellow musician Rhiannon Giddens is the author of Build a House, a tender story about a banjo-playing little girl and her musical and resilient family.
As the descendent of formerly enslaved Afro-Carolinian banjo and fiddle-playing musicians, Giddens gives readers a unique glimpse into the history of North Carolina and lots of inspiration for the future! Did I mention she's also a Grammy winner and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient?
Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens celebrates Black history and culture in her unflinching, uplifting, and gorgeously illustrated picture book debut.
I learned your words and wrote my song. I put my story down.
As an acclaimed musician, singer, songwriter, and cofounder of the traditional African American string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens has long used her art to mine America’s musical past and manifest its future, passionately recovering lost voices and reconstructing a nation’s musical heritage. Written as a song to commemorate the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth—which was originally performed with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma—and paired here with…
When I was 5 years old, I remember asking my mother, since dreams can feel so real, how do I know I’m not dreaming right now? All my life I’ve been exploring—in myself and with others—the meaning of dreams, not only nighttime dreams but also real experience, especially in nature, that mirrors our inner process. The fairy tale novels I write are dream versions of our world. Sometimes dreams, like fiction, tell a truth even truer than reality! I have a Master's in Transpersonal Psychology. I started a dream-sharing circle in my community which has facilitated such deep growth and connection, I encourage you to start one too!
I wish we had more dream novels out there about animal brides and bridegrooms! Instinctual and unbound by law, with access to wild places we could never reach, animals are such a perfect way to express the id-consciousness, the dream versions of ourselves. Based on a Japanese folktale, here’s a sweet, whimsical story of a fox who turns herself human to love a human man. Which form is real, and which is the dream, and how will she free herself to live both realities as a fully formed woman of her own?
Based on the award - winning short story Fox Magic, Kij Johnson's THE FOX WOMAN is a haunting novel of love and magic, of Kitsune, the young fox kit who catches a glimpse of a Japanese nobleman and resolves to snare his heart. Kitsune embarks on a journey that will change her, her family, and all the humans she encounters...and the magic she conjures will transform all of their lives forever. Set against the backdrop of medieval Japanese society, THE FOX WOMAN is both a retelling of the classic Japanese animal fable and a stunning exploration of what it means…
I'm a writer and a mother. Prior to the birth of my son, I wrote mainly fiction but fiction grounded in reality. As my son grew up, I wanted to write stories for him but as soon as I had written a crocodile story, he had already outgrown it. The years seven until eleven are a magical time for reading and perhaps the age group I enjoy writing for most. As a single, older mother I found the most engaging narratives for myself and my son (who is not a reader although loves being read to) were those that were grounded in reality, particularly the setting and with challenging as well as challenged characters.
An old-time favourite and, like Enid Blyton, a good link between picture and chapter books. It was one of my childhood favourites and one I have read to my son more than once. It is a story of the bullied overcoming the bullies and perhaps something that resonates with kids as the small foxes manage to outwit three rich men and their machines trying to dig them out. The fox characters are anthropomorphised and so outside of the ‘real’ and yet there is a strong sense of place, and although the characters of Boggis, Bunce, and Bean are exaggerated, they are recognisable and realistic.
Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thief-it's Fantastic Mr. Fox! Working alone they could never catch him; but now fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don't know is that they're not dealing with just any fox-Mr. Fox would rather die than surrender. Only the most fantastic plan can save him now.
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