Red Fox and His Canoe

by Nathaniel Benchley

Book Overview

Red Fox wants a big canoe. And when he gets it, he's off to catch a million fish. But Red Fox gets more than he bargained for in his roomy new canoe -- a bear and his buddies, two otters, a raccoon and... soon there won't be any room left for Red Fox!

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064440753
• ISBN13: 9780064440752
• Release Date: May 1985
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 62 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Best children's book EVER!

This book was my favorite book to read before bed with my mom. Great story, great illustrations, funny, and teaches a valuable lesson about how responsibility means knowing the limits of what you are capable of handling. The two human characters are Native Americans, the book is by no means racist as it is very vague as to the the time period in which the story takes place, it could be the year 1400 for all we know. All around just a great book, you will not regret it.

Red fFox and his Canoe

My 6 year old son loved this book. He could read it with just a little help at his first grade level, and it is long enough to be challenging. I reccommend it.

A lesson in good enough being good enough

This is a story about an Indian boy who wants a bigger and better canoe, yet learns at the end that small and functional is most often good enough. Red Fox asks his father to help him build a bigger canoe, and they do. Red Fox then goes out on the water and catches a lot of fish. This attracts a large bear that climbs in the canoe and eats all the fish. More bears then climb in, followed by a raccoon and some otters. They all manage until a moose also wants to get in the canoe. This is too much and it breaks apart. Red Fox then takes some of the pieces and patches together a small personal canoe similar to what he had before. The meaning of this story is clear and it is a valuable lesson for children. If what you have is good enough then asking for something better may cause problems that you can't handle. I enjoyed the story and recommend it for children three to six.

Ms. Lovell's Class Book Review

Our class learned how to make canoes by reading this book. The book was very funny when the bear ate all of the fish. We learned about many different types of animals. Having something bigger is not always better. This book would be good for kids to read because you can learn about a lot of things.

A wonderful children's book!

The time has come for Red Fox to have his own canoe. He decides that it must be from the largest tree he can find. But when the canoe is finished, and he begins picking up hitchhikers, he learns that more is not always better! This was one of my favorite books as a child, and I am very lucky to have found it to share with my own children.