his was a wonderful retelling of an old Japanese fairy tale of love and vengeance. The retelling is by Neil Gaiman, famous for his Sandman comics, and though this story has very little to do with his Sandman series, it does delve into the world of Dreams and we do come across the King of Dreams a couple times. The story is about a monk, a lone caretaker of a distant temple on the side of a mountain, and a neighboring fox. The fox ends up in love with the monk through his kindness. Being a Japanese fairy tale, the fox has wonderful spiritual magic and can come in the form of a beautiful young woman when she desires. The fox learns of a plot to kill the monk by another very powerful magician and she does everything she can to thwart him. 
 The story is simple in its prose, but deep in its meaning. It is all at once a fairy tale and a classical opera in its story. The illustrations, much of which is a combination of traditional Japanese watercolor and a more modern illustrative style, along with a handful of great charcoal drawings, are a wonderful accompaniment. They certainly add great enjoyment to an already delightful story. It is all the better as the reader can work his way through it in a fairly short time, but could easily find new enjoyment in another reading. This book gets high ranks from me