The Tomten and the Fox Book

A fox creeps up to a farm at night. Inside children chase past mother at the stove, towards a Christmas tree lit by candles. The fox looks hungrily in at the hens. Luckily someone is coming through the snow (we never could work out why the hens door was open at night?) The Tomten comes, a small elf like man who looks after the farm at night. He appreciates that the fox is hungry but asks the fox not to touch the hens and shares his porridge with him.

Harald Wiberg's illustrations are wonderful, he is very good at wintery scenes, night skies, animals, light and shadows. The expression of the fox is perfect, the illustrations are such a pleasure to look at. We always liked the fact the the fox was portrayed as hungry rather than mean and that the story concluded with the hens safe and the fox fed. The story has a wonderfully peaceful feel of animals and people preparing for sleep and all feeling safe. The fact that the Tomten is there makes the read all the more reassuring, the story tells us that the children haven't seen him but they know that he is there which I think makes a lovely cosy read for bedtime.