Books |
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Charlie Mackesy
By
Published: Mar 13, 2023
Category:
Children
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” is a British book that has sold millions of books in England, a great many in the United States, and has 100,000 5-star reviews on Amazon, with many readers saying it’s changed their lives and they’re giving it to everyone they care about. It’s been translated into 17 languages. And now the movie has won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. [It’s on Apple TV. To watch the preview, click here.]
That’s a lot of love for a 128 page book that’s nothing more than 100 pen-and-ink drawings that occasionally look like blotches and a text of short conversations.
Charlie Mackesy, who wrote and illustrated the book based on his Instagram (#charlesmackesy) drawings, describes the characters: “The boy is full of questions, the mole is greedy for cake, the fox is mainly silent and wary because he’s been hurt by life. The horse is the biggest thing they’ve ever encountered, and also the gentlest.” And he’s helpfully explained how “the characters” are really one character: “All four characters represent different parts of the same person — the inquisitive boy, the mole who’s enthusiastic but a bit greedy, the fox who’s been hurt so is withdrawn from life, slow to trust but wants to be part of things, and the horse who’s the wisest bit, the deepest part of you, the soul.”
You may think he’s cagey about the story: “a small graphic novel of images with conversation, over landscape.” He’s not. It’s a series of questions that occupy the characters as they make a seemingly random journey.
Samples:
The boy sits on a branch and asks the mole: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Kind.”
“What is the bravest thing you’ve ever said?” asked the boy.
“Help,” said the horse. “Asking for help isn’t giving up. It’s refusing to give up.”
“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?”
“Comparing yourself to others,” said the mole.
“When things get difficult, remember who you are.”
“Who am I” asked the boy.
“You are loved,” said the horse.
“Is your glass half empty or half full?” asked the mole.
“I think I’m grateful to have a glass,” said the boy.
“Do you have any other advice?” asked the boy.
“Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated,” said the horse.
“I am truly tiny,” said the mole.
“The love inside you,” said the boy, “is as big as the universe.”
“Doing nothing with friends is never doing nothing, is it?’ asked the boy.
“No,” said the mole.
“Sometimes I think you believe in me more than I do,” said the boy.
“You’ll catch up,” said the horse.
“Sometimes,” said the horse.
“Sometimes what?” asked the boy.
“Sometimes just getting up and carrying on is brave and magnificent.”
“Always remember you matter, you’re important and you are loved, and you bring to this world things no one else can.
You may say: Excuse me, but this is very thin gruel. Sentimental. Even mawkish. I know all this. We all do. And we all have a bunch of self-help books on our shelves to remind us.
True. But then there’s the experience of turning the pages and feeling the book. I felt a lot, so I gave it to a friend to read. She went to a chair across the room. Twenty minutes later, she returned with tears in her eyes and called her local store. It had just sold the last copy. “What’s going on?” the manager asked.
I knew: this book is a talisman. A shield against a wedge of humanity that seems to know no other feelings but resentment, anger and hate. A reminder of who we are at our best. A message we want to pass on to our children. And I could go on… [To watch a short video of Charlie Mackesy talking and drawing, click here. To buy the book from Amazon, click here. To buy the Kindle — but please don’t — click here.]
