Leila and the Blue Fox

Ages 10 And Up, Grades 5 And Up

Weeks pass,

to her they are nameless,

they are fading and growing light,

the warming of weather.

On this day, she wakes,

and begins to walk.

It’s a summer of firsts for twelve-year-old Leila: her first time traveling alone, first time apart from Amma and her cousin Mona, and first time seeing her mother, a climate scientist in Norway, since war forced their family from Syria six years ago.

Together, Leila and her mother’s research team follow the migration of a tiny Arctic fox, Miso, across ice floes and international borders, hopeful the midnight sun will illuminate how to adapt to a constantly changing world.

The Arctic Circle is nothing like Leila has ever imagined—so bright and brutal and undeniably wild. It tests her in every way: her understanding of home and what it means to belong, her determination to do what’s right, and her belief in how much is possible in even the most impossible of situations.

Inspired by an Arctic fox’s real 2,000-mile trek across continents, Miso and Leila’s entwined journeys offer hope in the face of an uncertain future and reinforce that even the smallest voices can make the biggest impact.

About the Author

Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Tom de Freston met in 2009, when Kiran was a student and Tom was artist-in-residence at Cambridge University. They have been a couple and collaborators ever since, with Leila and the Blue Fox as the follow-up to their Barnes & Noble Children's Prize shortlisted Julia and the Shark. Kiran is the award-winning, bestselling author of stories including The Girl of Ink & Stars, The Way Past Winter, and The Deathless Girls, and Tom is an acclaimed illustrator, having worked as an artist for many years. They live in Oxford, UK, with their two cats and their daughter.