Foxy

Title: Foxy
Author: Helen Griffith
Pub Date: 1984
Pages: 135
Genre: Children's Fiction, Animals, Realistic Fiction
Challenges: Flashback Challenge

Foxy is a childhood book that I don't think about often. In fact, it only recently came to mind within the past year and then after signing up for the Flashback Challenge I thought there wasn't a more appropriate book to be included in my list. You see, Foxy is the only book that I remember reading as a child that was both a book on grade level and one that stayed with me emotionally for over twenty years.

Most of my childhood reads blur together. I was a voracious reader and devourer of books and never thought once to keep a list (which is surprising because I've always been list maker). Foxy, I believe, was the first book that I cried over.

As an adult, I shy away from books where the main characters or main plot devices are animals. I cannot stomach an animal dying or being abused, in books or films. When I watched Jaws, I always rooted for the dog in the ocean to survive, not the person. I've never seen Benji, Lassie, or Old Yeller. Nor have I read Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, or Cujo. I believe strongly that books should put some sort of warning label when an animal is viciously abused or dies. Marley & Me? Nope. Won't ever read it, regardless of all its hype.

You can probably guess where that paragraph is taking me, right? Foxy is about a dog (who looks like a fox). An abandoned dog. An abused, starving, abandoned dog. Luckily Foxy gets rescued in the beginning of the story by Jeff, a young boy who is camping in the Keys with his folks. But, because there has to be conflict, enter Amber. Amber is daughter of the campground owners and geez louise is she one obnoxious bratty little girl. Really. Like, someone needs a spanking troubled girl. She decides that she wants Foxy for herself and manages to cause more physical and emotional misery to the dog and Jeff that I began to wonder if she was the spawn of Satan or something.

This book is discontinued and I just so happened to find it on Bookmooch. It's a quick read and still invoked the same tormented images in my mind as it did as a child. I think I'll stick to my rule of not reading books with animals in it. (I mean really, look at that cover. Doesn't it just break your heart???)