Review of “The Fox's New Channel” by Tuula Pere

Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)

The Fox's New Channel is yet another phenomenal, thought-provoking children's book by the incomparable Tuula Pere, our 2023 Author of the Year!

It is part of arguably the most decorated and beloved series in the history of our awards, a series that follows the mischievous, Machiavellian Francis the Fox—the only character to be named “Best Character” and “Best Villain” in the same OCA contest!

What makes Francis such an interesting character? Well, he's far from a role-model. At the same time, he has aspects of his character that are sympathetic, relatable, and compelling. He's creative, ambitious, driven, and relentless—for better or for worse (usually for worse). He won't take “no” or “can't” for an answer. You just can't stop this fox!

The scheming fox is back to it again in The Fox's New Channel, which seems to come right after Francis's tower-building failure in The Fox's Tower, a book which ended rather abruptly and without a clear or satisfying resolution.

Well, we get a bit of a resolution here: Francis's resolution to not give up on making it big and becoming famous.

During what should be a heartwarming reunion with his loving mother, Francis instead uses this homecoming as an opportunity to enact a new scheme: starting his own media company!

He orders expensive equipment and begins streaming live constantly. The music and sounds from his productions can be heard for miles away.

Showing how much of a megalomaniac he is, Francis starts off by making his show all about him. Honestly, though, Francis does have a lot of cool, interesting, and exciting stories to share. However, in the context of the book, it really shows how self-centered, egotistical, and arrogant Francis is.

Furthermore, these early scenes with his mom really highlight how exploitative Francis can be. He is willing to use his mom as free labor to make himself look better such as when he makes her hold the lights and cameras at the same time.

It also shows how concerned and conflicted Francis's loving mother is. We saw it in the first book (The Fox's City). We also briefly heard about Francis's mother in The Fox's Palace as she was under the impression that he was highly successful and living in a huge mansion. It's interesting to note that keeping up appearances for his mother was one of Francis's motivations to go about building his palace in that book.

Anyway, Francis just can't leave well enough alone. He can't just be content with the good things he has. He wants more and more and more. To that end, he begins to build his streaming business into a media empire that rules the airwaves of the city. Also, he expands the focus of his media stories from being only about himself to being about others, only in the worst possible way. Like the Nation Inquirer, he weaves stories, gossips, and rumors about people, often negative ones. He does so because it gets him more viewers and makes him more money (as well as making him more famous).

In one of the more humorous stories, he spreads a rumor that a certain bulldog's ears are altered via plastic surgery to make them stick up.

Francis's unscrupulous activities earn him the negative attention and condemnation of his old mentor (and frequent victim), Mayor William the Wolf.

Feeling threatened and wanting to show up the Mayor who has thwarted and discouraged him several times before, Francis ponders how to get back at him and potentially even retake control of the city.

Feeding his ego and his lust for power is a new female figure at the Fox's Channel named Flurry.
A kind of Jezebel and a temptress without scruples, Flurry exacerbates Francis's personality problems by giving him the idea of running a damning story against William the Wolf by using A.I. (or editing) to make it sound like he's admitting to things he would never do, mainly corruption and defrauding the public. This explores a rather relevant issue: the use of A.I. to make fake videos, audio recordings, and images to defame, humiliate, or discredit people.

In a rather interesting character moment, Francis actually doesn't jump on this opportunity and is actually filled with guilt, apprehension, and regrets over it. This may be one of the only times in the entire series when Francis's good conscience actually shows, although it is very sparse.

After all, William the Wolf really isn't an enemy or an antagonist to Francis. If anything, Francis knows in his heart of hearts that William was a friend and a mentor who trusted him and forgave him after numerous poor decisions.

It's rather fascinating to see Francis actually show a good side. It almost never happens.
Is he a redeemable character?

Well, unfortunately, Francis pays the price for surrounding himself with terrible, toxic people like Flurry (and the unnamed frowning koala sound editor) when they release the damning audio story without telling Francis first.

The smear story is easily debunked and the Fox's Channel loses all of its credibility. Worst yet, it becomes the target of law enforcement since Francis's (and the channel's) activities are deemed to be illegal.

The clever Fox, with an insatiable appetite to do big things, still believes he can do something noteworthy in prison like writing a book about his embellished stories and experiences.

Tuula Pere once again knocks it out of the park with this series.

Check it out on Amazon!