Scary Stories for Young Foxes

Written by Christian McKay Heidicker

Narrated by Christian McKay Heidicker

Christian McKay Heidicker draws inspiration from Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe for his debut middle-grade novel, a thrilling portrait of survival and an unforgettable tale of friendship.

"Clever and harrowing." —The Wall Street Journal

"Into the finest tradition of storytelling steps Christian McKay Heidicker with these highly original, bone-chilling, and ultimately heart-warming stories. All that’s needed is a blazing campfire and a delicious plate of peaches and centipedes.” —Kathi Appelt, Newbery Award honoree and National Book Award finalist

The haunted season has arrived in the Antler Wood. No fox kit is safe.

When Mia and Uly are separated from their litters, they discover a dangerous world full of monsters. In order to find a den to call home, they must venture through field and forest, facing unspeakable things that dwell in the darkness: a zombie who hungers for their flesh, a witch who tries to steal their skins, a ghost who hunts them through the snow . . . and other things too scary to mention.

Featuring eight interconnected stories and sixteen hauntingly beautiful illustrations, Scary Stories for Young Foxes contains the kinds of adventures and thrills you love to listen to beside a campfire in the dark of night. Fans of Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Auxier, and R. L. Stine have found their next favorite book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781980096979

Christian McKay Heidicker

Christian McKay Heidicker reads and writes and drinks tea. He is the author of the Newbery Honor-recipient Scary Stories for Young Foxes, as well as Scary Stories for Young Foxes: The City, Cure for the Common Universe and Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower. With William Shivering, he wrote the Thieves of Weirdwood trilogy. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Reviews for Scary Stories for Young Foxes

[chelle wakeley · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was really interesting and and fon I totally recommend to enyone

[foxen_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I picked this book up on a whim as a Christmas present for my husband and I'm so glad I did! It is extremely charming, and actually quite scary. It's a realistic approach to animal fiction (think Watership Down) and the first story almost put me off because it's scary just because the real world is terrible sometimes. The framing narrative of "can you sit through the night" is a good mechanism for assuring the reader that it'll pay off, and it does. The stories grow and intertwine, and by the end it's uplifting in a still realistic way. I learned some things about foxes! And Beatrix Potter makes a surprise appearance as a villain? Really, really charming, keeps you guessing and questioning, and it's also a gorgeous physical book. Highly recommended (perhaps not, actually, for young children?).

[bookbrig-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a perfect creepy fall read, with scary bits that are deeply unsettling, a great framing device, and plenty of actual fox facts. Highly recommend for readers looking for something scary and gory that's kind of National Geographic scary rather than Slasher Horror Flick scary, with plenty of dread and twisty thriller moments too.

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It can be a fearsome thing to be a young fox, too soon alone in the world. Fox kits Mia and Uly, each separated from their families, must make their way through all of the world's dangers in order to have any hope of surviving to adulthood.This dark set of tales (really just one tale, with a framing device of an old fox telling the story to a dwindling number of kits) shows nature to be red in tooth and claw, indeed. There is death and disaster. Adults do not always take care of the young. Good does not always triumph. But for those who stick around to the very end, there is some measure of hope and redemption . . . if you can get through the scary parts. I'd recommend this to middle-grade readers with a taste for horror, especially those who can take stories where bad things happen to animals. It was a little darker than what I'd usually read, but indubitably well-written.

[dianevogan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is indeed a book with seven very scary and realistic stories (young foxes die). It is a well written page turner and does sort of redeem itself at the end. I would not recommend it for the fainthearted.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Truly scary, very effective at bringing out the fears that kids know: losing mom’s protection, being abandoned, being teased about being scared (Ewwwly), “She was supposed to stay there with him forever. She’d promised.” A terrifcially and sometimes disturbingly scary story.

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Eager for scary stories, six fox kits sneak away from their den in the Antler Wood and make their way to Bog Cavern, where the old storyteller regales them with the tale of two young foxes, born of different families, whose youthful misfortunes bring them together. When all of Mia's siblings, as well as her tutor Miss Vix are stricken by the "yellow disease," she and her mother set off into exile, only to become separated when they run afoul of an unexpected human enemy, in the form of Beatrix Potter. Uly, in the meantime, is persecuted by his sisters (and unbeknownst to him at first, his father) for having an atrophied leg, and must eventually flee his own family, when it becomes apparent that his life is in danger. Not yet fully grown, and unprepared for life in the wild, the two kits meet up and go on to encounter many more dangers, all related by the storyteller to the kits in Antler Wood. As each episode is completed, another kit sneaks off home, leading to the question: will any of the listeners stick it out to the end? More importantly, what purpose do these scary stories serve...?Due out for publication next month (August, 2019), Scary Stories for Young Foxes is animal fiction at its best, and I'm grateful to the work colleague who set the ARC of it aside for me, knowing my fondness for fox stories. Christian McKay Heidicker really captures the vulpine perspective in his writing here, and I appreciated the way in which monstrous things, things that might at first glance appear fantastical to the reader, are shown to be natural - for instance, the "yellow disease" is clearly rabies - as this highlights how differently things must look to our foxy friends. I wasn't really sure what to expect, going in - horror? dark fantasy? - but what I found was fairly realistic animal fiction, with an emphasis on the hardships and dangers to be found in the wild. I didn't find the stories particularly scary, but clearly the young foxes did, and I would imagine young children might as well. Heidicker writes well, with both humor and pathos, and I was completely invested in these characters, hoping throughout that they would find a (relatively) happy ending. The artwork from Junyi Wu, although not final in this ARC edition, is lovely, and added to my enjoyment, as did the choice to use black paper for the scenes depicting the storyteller and listening foxes, and white paper for the eight inset tales. The tying together of those two strands - storyteller and stories - at the end proved most satisfying.

[kamoorephoto · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Life as a young fox is scary, with so much to learn about the dangers out there in the woods. Little foxes learn about these dangers from their mama, a masterful storyteller, or the hard way, by facing the world. This beautifully-written and illustrated middle-grade book invites the reader to step inside the minds of little foxes, and embark on an adventure, full of the real-life challenges that they often face: Nasty humans, vicious woodland creatures like the Golgathursh and badgers, and dangerous territorial foxes. And especially the harsh Winter.This is a tale within a tale, and just like scary stories told around a campfire, it has elements of horror and delight. Not only is it precautionary for fox kits, like foxes Mia and Uly, readers will recognize the themes of friendship, family, bravery, and the drive to push ahead when life is difficult. Author Christian McKay Heidicker has a way with words too, and through his writing he has conveyed a very vivid picture of woodland life, describing objects as a fox would see them, and creating new words for things that wouldn’t make sense to them. He also doesn’t shy away from the brutality of nature, from the cycle of life and death, and the struggle for survival against the most difficult of odds. The young foxes in his story face hunters, painful separation from family members, and gruesome injuries and death. Heidicker draws inspiration from classic authors Bram Stoker, Edgar Allen Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft, and weaves in a very well-known children’s book author into this very book; young readers who love a scary story will enjoy this, but it’s not for those who are easily upset by animals getting hurt or struggle with the harshness of nature.The most wonderful part in my reading this (aside from enjoying the adventure and the amazing artwork by Junyi Wu) was how it reminded me of discovering books about animals in my childhood, such as ‘Charlotte’s Web,’ ‘The Wind in The Willows,’ and ‘Watership Down.’ I enjoyed these with my dad, and they fueled my love and compassion for animals. I expect many readers who will enjoy this book will be or are animal-lovers too, as Heidicker has embodied the curious and mischievous nature of foxes so well in this book, and it’s really hard not to love them because of it. This deserves to be a children’s animal classic!