Fantastic Mr. Fox

Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!

Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thief-it's Fantastic Mr. Fox! Working alone they could never catch him; but now fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don't know is that they're not dealing with just any fox-Mr. Fox would rather die than surrender. Only the most fantastic plan can save him now.

"Boggis and Bunce and Bean

One fat, one short, one lean.

These horrible crooks

So different in looks

Were none the less equally mean."

Boggis, Bunce and Bean are three rich, nasty farmers. They are driven wild by the night-time visits of Mr. Fox, who poaches chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys from the farms for his wife Mrs. Fox and the four Small Foxes. The farmers join together to hunt and kill Mr. Fox, but things don't go exactly to plan. He's not called Fantastic Mr. Fox for nothing! As Wendy Cooling notes, "Dahl thought that kindness and warmth were important things for children to understand and that greediness and selfishness were to be fought against. This story reminds us of that in a hugely entertaining way."