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Cover art illustrated by: Charlie Mackesy

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Standalone

Genre: Self-help, Philosophy

Pages: 128 pages (Hardcover edition)

Published: 10th October 2019 by Ebury Press (UK) and 22nd October 2019 by HarperOne (US)

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Well, isn’t this just incredibly wholesome and hopeful.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy was a book that I spotted several times on many best-sellers list. However, I was never interested in it; I never expected or planned to read this book. This was a book gifted to me by my co-blogger, TS; she insisted her co-bloggers receive this wonderful gift, and I’m really thankful for her generous gesture. Why? Because I surprisingly loved it. It arrived at my doorstep earlier today; I took a peek and ended up being charmed thoroughly to the end.

I’ll keep this brief. The lovely art plus the text was a great combination that captured the feeling of loneliness, kindness, love, and gratitude that the characters felt. There isn’t a narrative per se; it’s designed like a collection of self-help/inspirational quotes you can usually find on Instagram. But Mackesy’s artwork made the text more “alive” to me. The importance of existing, doing our best, and not be ashamed of asking for help were all delivered. I felt like capturing every page because they’re precious. It’s a short read; try to observe the art and let the text on each page seeps in; don’t rush through reading it. Stay with your new four friends for a while.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse is a hopeful book suitable for both young and adult readers. Growing up, my parents always taught me the importance of virtue, hope, love, and friendship; as an adult, constantly faced with growing responsibilities and crushing hardships just seem to make it difficult to remember those messages sometimes. This book made me remember those lessons again; it felt like I was taking a break from the harshness of life for a while. It’s not even the type of book I usually read, but I know I will be reading this to my kid in the future one day. We always want kids and young adults to grow up with kindness and hope in their hearts; bring positive change to the world. But we can’t leave it all to them. We, as an adult, also has a role to play in this. Be the right individual to impart the light of virtue to them. Be grateful, be hopeful, be kind.

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