Patricia: I’ll go back to the very first picture book, Flossie and the Fox. I wrote it and Fred said, “You know, it’s okay, but there’s something not quite right about it.”
And I said, “Well, what is it? I had the fox, Flossie, get all the way through the woods with her basket of eggs, by tricking the fox. When they got through the woods, the fox was confronted by a dog. And the dog chased the fox and that was the end of the story. And I have reduced him to crying and the fox has fallen completely apart in the story.”
And Fred said, “You need to look at that.” And I go, “Well, I think it’s fine.” And he said, “It is fine, but there’s a little more than something missing to me.” And he said, “As a young reader, I think that you need to look at who will be reading this and what you’re really trying to say. I don’t know what it is myself, but something’s not right.”
We went for our drive and we didn’t say anything to each other about it — just drove along. And coming back, I said, “I got it. I know what it is, Fred. I’ve got to give fox back his foxhood!” So if you’ll go the last page of Flossie and the Fox, it says, “Mr. J.W. McCutchen’s hound dog is right behind you and by the way it’s looking, it’s all over for you.” That’s the way I ended it the first time.
When I went home, I worked on it and it ends, “Yes, the hound dog knows who I am because I’ve been outrunning and outsmarting him for years. Like I told you, I am the fox. And Flossie said, “Oh, I know.” And she turned toward Miss Viola with the basket of eggs, safely tucker under her arm.”
So he couldn’t tell me exactly what it was, but he made me think and re-think the end of that story. I had destroyed fox. Was that the intent? No, it was to get through the woods safely with her basket of eggs. And she used her wits to do it; she didn’t beat him over the head; she didn’t shoot him.
She didn’t maim him and, you know, hang him out to dry. She tricked him and got through the woods. And then when she was safe and her eggs were safe, she gave him back his foxhood and he could be imperial. I am the fox!