The Fox's Kettle

By Laura Langston and Victor Bosson

In old Japan, the daughter of a village innkeeper feeds a samurai warrior who turns out to be a fox. Pleased by the girl’s kindness, the magical creature rewards her with a black kettle. As long as she cares for the kettle as if it were her own child, the fox tells her, the village rice crops will flourish forever. All is well until the girl is ordered to move to the landowner’s household and leave all her belongings behind. With the kettle no longer in her care, the rice crops fail and people begin to starve. In this traditional tale celebrating kindness and bravery, the young woman must escape the landowner, confront the angry foxes and come up with a clever plan to save the rice crops forever.

Recommended reading ages: 4-10

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crow Cottage Publishing
• Release date: Jul 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9780988072695

Laura Langston

Laura Langston is the author of several books for children and adults. Lesia’s Dream recently won for the Kobzar Literary Award, Canada’s newest national book award. It was also nominated for three other children’s choice awards. Mile-High Apple Pie, her recent picture book, was nominated for the OLA’s Blue Spruce Award; The Fox’s Kettle was nominated for a Governor General’s Award for Illustration; and Pay Dirt! was nominated for the Red Cedar and Silver Birch Awards. A former writer and broadcaster for the CBC, Laura Langston also writes regularly for Canadian Gardening magazine and has authored a book on herb gardening. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia.

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