Cuddles, a little red fox, is the youngest in his family. He is always trying to prove to them that he is not a baby and can do most things that his brothers and sisters can do.So one night, Cuddles sneaks out of the family burrow to go on an adventure by himself to prove this. Along the way, Cuddles meets a coyote named Dash, who is supposed to be an enemy, but they become great friends.Dash tells Cuddles that his family are different from other coyotes, that they want to live in a world of peace and accept all others no matter how different they are.Cuddles and Dash have a wonderful time together. When it starts to get dark, Cuddles tells Dash that he must get home before his family wakes up and finds out that he is gone. Dash and Cuddles hug each other and promise to meet once again.On his way home, Cuddles has to do a task that only a young pup would know what to do. So maybe Cuddles isn’t a baby after all!The Fox family realizes that Cuddles is missing, so Cuddles’s dad goes looking for him. That is when Mr. Fox comes upon the little coyote, Dash, and he asks him if he has seen a small fox.Dash tells him that they met yesterday and played together all day. He also says that Cuddles headed home when it started to get dark.Mr. Fox tells Dash that he never made it home. So Dash goes and gets his family to help find Cuddles.Cuddles’s dad isn’t sure he should trust the coyotes, but he did, and the coyotes help figure out where Cuddles was.Cuddles tells his dad what had happened that night and why he didn’t make it home. He also tells him how sorry he was for sneaking out on his own.The Fox family is so happy to see Cuddles, but he is given a strong talking to. The two unlikely families, coyotes and foxes, become good friends and share many good times together. They proved that just because they were different didn’t mean that they couldn’t be friends.

--Carole Jaeggi

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