Foxtrot by Becka Moor

Five Mile Press, 2015. ISBN 9781760063412
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Individuality, Humour, Foxes, Dancing. With bold bright illustrations, Moor creates a fox who loves to dance, so much so that he dances all the time. He dances out of bed, does the splits putting on his socks, mambos with his marmalade and twirls with his toast. Music rules his life and he dances all the time. But once out of his house, he causes mayhem. He stops traffic, knocks things off the shelves in the supermarket, causing mayhem at his friends' parties. They decide that this must stop and try a range of things to stop Foxtrot dancing. Tying his shoelaces together causes him to fall over, sticking his feet to the floor with honey leaves him all alone, so he tries to seek out some alternatives. He tries rock climbing, drag racing and acting, all to no avail. But one morning when he wakes and drags himself downstairs he spies the picture of his old teacher and her dancing studio where he learnt to dance. She is too old to teach so Foxtrot decides that he will take over and teach others to dance. All his friends join in getting the hoses ready for his students.
This lovely story of being an individual and sticking to what you love will have a lot of friends as children will care about Foxtrot trying to reinvent himself for the sake of his friends. At home or in a class discussions will ensue focussing on individuality and the freedom to be yourself.
Fran Knight