Final Project Book 3

McKissack, Patricia C. Flossie and the Fox. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1986.



Flossie and the Fox is a story of a young African American girl who goes to bring her neighbors some eggs and on the way uses her wit to outsmart a fox. As she walks through the forest she meets up with a menacing fox and Flossie makes him prove that he is indeed a fox. She does this by using the physical description the fox gives to identify himself as a fox against him by saying he could just be another animal. For example, when the fox says he has a thick coat Flossie says a rabbit has a thick coat too. This continues as she walks through the woods to her neighbor’s house. The fox gets frustrated in trying to prove that he is a fox and that Flossie is not afraid of him and he gets so wrapped up in proving his identity that he does not notice that he has followed her out of the woods and into a dangerous situation of being chased by a hound. This book follows Flossie and the fox in their trip through the woods and Flossie cleverly outsmarts the fox and the fox tries desperately to prove his identity as a fox.

Patricia McKissack uses many techniques in her writing that add to the authenticity of her text. She uses many grammatical components of African American Language (AAL) that add to the authenticity of her writing. Through her use of the zero copula form, or the absence of the word “are” in a sentence, she demonstrates the African American Language in her text. One example of this is when she states, “I don’t believe you a fox”. This use of AAL in her writing adds authenticity to this book and demonstrated diversity in her writing style. McKissack also uses multiple negation in her writing, such as “I aine never seen” and “you anie no fox” which is also a typical grammatical form use in AAL. These grammatical forms that are typical of AAL show authenticity in the use of AAL in the dialogue and narration in the book. The book also shows diversity in language as the African American characters in the book are depicted using AAL and the fox is shown using LWC (or language or the wider community also known as Standard English). This shows diversity in language types throughout the book. Although some may consider the fact that the African American characters speak AAL and the fox speak LWC as a stereotype, I believe that the way in which the characters speak shows authenticity in language and also goes against the typical stereotype that speakers of AAL are unintelligent in the way in which Flossie outsmarts the fox in the book. This goes against typical stereotypes because the African American girl who speaks in AAL is shown outsmarting the fox that speaks LWC. Overall, I believe that through the use of African American Language and LWC in her book, McKissack creates an authentically written story using AAL and LWC and that this book is a creative and authentic piece of diverse literature.