Doctor De Soto by William Steig, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1982.

Anthropomorphism lightens this harrowing tale. Written in a nursery tale style, the story of Dr. De Soto’s escape from the wiley fox feels like a modern Little Red Riding Hood or Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The husband and wife dentistry team, mice, take pity on a fox and repair his tooth, but through ingenuity they “outfox the fox” and thwart his plan to eat them. Bold outline illustrations with watercolor details illustrate the story.