The stories in this middle grade book were pretty scary, so in that sense they were a success, but with a really wide range of topics compared to the first book, it was a little all over the place. ( )

If the first Young Foxes book was about survival in the wild, this is about survival at several levels: a fur farm, city streets, rabid dogs, a rifle-toting Hidden Man, and a veterinarian conducting experiments with animals. With all that going on, this plot feels a little less cohesive than the first book. However the theme of scary stories as a learning tool for surviving life is supported throughout. ( )