By Roald Dahl
Three horrible farmers try to dig a clever fox out of his hole, and he out-tunnels every one of them in classic Roald Dahl style.
Boggis, Bunce, and Bean are three of the nastiest, greediest farmers you'll ever meet, and they are sick of Mr. Fox sneaking off with their chickens, ducks, and cider. So they decide to get rid of him for good, first with guns, then with shovels, then with enormous digging machines that tear the whole hill apart to reach his family in their den. But Mr. Fox is smarter than all three of them put together. While they sit and wait in the mud, he digs a secret network of tunnels straight into their own storehouses and throws a magnificent underground feast. It's fast, funny, a little bit wicked, and short enough to finish in a sitting or two.
This is a brilliant short book for a reluctant reader because Dahl never wastes a word, the chapters are tiny, and Quentin Blake's scratchy drawings keep the pages light. The pull is pure cleverness: you spend the whole book wanting to see how the fox will outfox them, and he always does. It's got a bit of an edge, which is exactly what draws in a child who finds gentler books boring, and it's over before they've had a chance to get restless. A very reliable win.