"Pandora" by Victoria Turnbull arrived at ReadItDaddy Towers long before the avalanche of 'eco' books, with the story of a lonely fox living in a strange post-apocalyptic world that reminded us heavily of "Wall-E" at times, but with a level of warmth and charm to it.
But also loneliness. The fox at the heart of this tale makes the best of life amongst the discarded rubbish of a long-departed civilisation. But one day she rescues a small blue bird with a broken wing, and nurses it back to health.
Pandora enjoys the company - and the way that the bird changes her life. But it's a brief interlude, for all things that fly must never be bound to earth, and soon the blue songbird whistles off into the sky once more.
But that's not where the story ends, of course...!
We've seen a few children's picture books with a similar theme (in fact one will also be cropping up in our #Booky100Keepers list very soon, see if you can spot it) but the way Victoria draws up a stark world which her character lives in, then weaves that into a more warming heartfelt tale is just sublime. We've spent hours looking at the illustrations in this one too, with exquisitely detailed page spreads complementing one of the loveliest foxes you'll ever meet in a children's story.
Original Review Link:
ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 4th November 2016 - "Pandora" by Victoria Turnbull (Frances Lincoln Children's Books)