A Game of Fox & Squirrels

Starred review from March 16, 2020
Reese (the Above World series) sketches a poignant fantastical allegory focusing on the desperate tolls exacted by mental and physical abuse. When their father breaks Caitlin’s arm, 13-year-old Caitlin and her 11-year-old sister, Samantha, are relocated from their parents’ Los Angeles home to rural Oregon, where they will stay indefinitely with their estranged paternal aunt, Vicky, and Vicky’s wife, Hannah. Despite the impossible rules and systems that she and Caitlin have grown up navigating, Sam can’t understand why they have to “visit” Oregon; her favorite books have taught her that “heroes always home.” After receiving the titular card game from Aunt Vicky, Sam is surprised when a wily fox named Ashander, as well as his emissaries, three friendly anthropomorphic squirrels, appear, offering her heart’s desire—for a steep price. Yet Oregon isn’t horrible, and Sam must decide whether fulfilling the fox’s escalating ultimatums is worth disrupting the stable, love-filled life Caitlin and Sam are settling into. The accessible narrative presents generational trauma and its echoes unflinchingly, encouraging readers in similar situations to seek community and help from trusted adults. An author’s note leads to a website with resources; final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–14. Agent: Holly Root, Root Literary.

March 27, 2020

Gr 5-8-An engaging blend of genres that will be different from most novels on middle grade shelves. Reese's latest blurs the lines of real and fantastical in the everyday world. Samantha and her older sister Caitlin are sent to live with an aunt they hardly know following a domestic violence incident. Both sisters are dealing with the move and the changes that surround them. When Samantha receives a gift of a board game called "Fox & Squirrels," her curiosity prompts her to open the box on the first night. After she opens it, Samantha starts to see the game characters in her real world. She must follow the rules of the game and complete the tasks asked of her to win a wish for anything she desires. She must decide how far she will go to grasp this ultimate prize. Reese blends intriguing fantasy elements with a realistic fiction plot. As the story progresses, clues are revealed about what was actually happening in the sisters' lives at home. At the same time, readers are drawn into the fantasy world of the game. The plot gains momentum as the mysteries of both the realistic elements and the fantasy world entwine. Readers who enjoyed Kate DiCamillo's The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane or Katherine Applegate's The One and Only Ivan will want to play this dangerous game with Samantha. VERDICT A middle grade fantasy dealing with realistic issues that will be a solid addition to elementary or middle school libraries where either genre circulates well.-Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East High School, IL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2020
Grades 4-8 Sam doesn't like that she and her older sister, Caitlin, have to spend their summer in Oregon with an aunt they've never met. It soon becomes apparent to the reader, however, that Sam is in denial about the serious circumstances that led to her and Caitlin's arrival at Aunt Vicky's. Reese spins a tale about child abuse that is touched with fantasy as Sam processes her new life?and the truth about the one she left behind. After Aunt Vicky gives her a card game called A Game of Fox & Squirrels, Sam is visited by a charming, manipulative fox named Ashander, who draws the girl into a real-life game with high stakes and false promises. The parallels between the dangerous Ashander and Sam's father are drawn with a heavy hand, but fantasy can be a powerful tool for working through trauma. Aunt Vicky and her wife offer a loving and realistic support team for their nieces as the girls learn to trust the safety of their new home and redefine their expectations of family life.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2020
Eleven-year-old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin have been sent away from their home in Los Angeles to stay with their aunt and her wife in Oregon. The mention of a caseworker and Sam's emotional fragility alert the reader to a backstory, gradually revealed, involving the violence of the girls' father. The realistic story line, in which Sam makes a friend and learns to trust her aunt, is paralleled by a fantasy story line begun when Sam discovers a card game called Fox & Squirrels. A charismatic fox character, Ashander, aided by his squirrel devotees, promises to give Sam her heart's desire--a return to her home--if she will only submit to his will. Through the tests that Ashander assigns--acts of vandalism that increase in seriousness--we are given a mirror portrait of the manipulative, abusive behavior of Sam's father. Sam is a bookish girl, and the world of Ashander contains references to Narnia and Middle Earth, but this is not a fantasy where the hero enters and leaves the fantasy world via some portal--rather it is one in which the two worlds are so intertwined that it seems at times as though Sam is undergoing a psychotic break. The squirrels, the kindly aunt and her wife, and Sam's new friend, a sunny boy who knits, add some warmth and lightness, but the overall temperature in this game is chilling.

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2020
Eleven-year-old Samantha and her older sister Caitlin have been sent away from their home in Los Angeles to stay with their aunt and her wife in Oregon. The mention of a caseworker and Sam's emotional fragility alert the reader to a backstory, gradually revealed, involving the violence of the girls' father. The realistic story line, in which Sam makes a friend and learns to trust her aunt, is paralleled by a fantasy story line begun when Sam discovers a card game called Fox & Squirrels. A charismatic fox character, Ashander, aided by his squirrel devotees, promises to give Sam her heart's desire-a return to her home-if she will only submit to his will. Through the tests that Ashander assigns-acts of vandalism that increase in seriousness-we are given a mirror portrait of the manipulative, abusive behavior of Sam's father. Sam is a bookish girl, and the world of Ashander contains references to Narnia and Middle Earth, but this is not a fantasy where the hero enters and leaves the fantasy world via some portal-rather it is one in which the two worlds are so intertwined that it seems at times as though Sam is undergoing a psychotic break. The squirrels, the kindly aunt and her wife, and Sam's new friend, a sunny boy who knits, add some warmth and lightness, but the overall temperature in this game is chilling. Sarah Ellis

(Copyright 2020 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from February 15, 2020
A preteen confronts the child abuse that's shaped her world through a mysterious game, alluring and terrifying, with rules that are all too familiar. After Sam, 11, panicked and revealed the child abuse that left older sister Caitlin with a broken arm, the girls were sent to live with Aunt Vicky and her wife, Hannah, in rural Oregon. (The girls and their aunt are white; Hannah has a Chinese surname.) While Caitlin, 13, gratefully adapts, Sam wants only to return to their parents. A gift from Vicky, the Game of Fox & Squirrels, could help with that. The squirrels and fox on the cards, she discovers, have real-life counterparts. The flamboyant fox Ashander feeds Sam's hopes, testing her loyalty; she must earn her right to go home. What begins as a hero's journey degenerates into cruel demands. His minions, three timid squirrels, urge Sam to placate him, but she realizes she must look elsewhere to find courage to resist. Sam moves between the game world--with its chillingly familiar rules and seductive, but invariably broken, promises--and the real, but unfamiliar, world of peaceable, dependable adults. Reese's pairing of a realistic depiction of lived trauma with its allegorical-fantasy reflection proves stunningly effective in conveying PTSD. The abuse is portrayed indirectly, through its long-term effect on victims. Fear digs deep grooves in the psyche--Sam and Caitlin are on perpetual alert. Beautifully written, this is no easy read; crucially, an author's note addresses real-life abuse and directs readers to the book's website, which offers resources for help. A haunting tale that brings the traumatic aftermath of family violence into focus with unsparing clarity. (Fiction. 10-14)

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