For several years, Akoya successfully carries out her promise to the fox, but then her circumstances change. Because of her excellent storytelling ability, somewhat like Scheherazade, she goes to live in the home of the area's most powerful landowner to be his official storyteller. She is forced to leave behind the magic black kettle at her parents' inn. The remainder of the story tells of the dire consequences of this event, the failure of successive rice crops, and Akoya's resourceful solution to the problem.

      Victor Bosson's illustrations perfectly reflect the Japanese theme. His watercolours skilfully evoke the style of traditional Japanese prints. Full page illustrations face each page of text, an attractive feature for today's young readers, accustomed as they are to television and computer graphics. The type font is a suitable size, and, at the start of each page, an eye-catching drop-capital letter, suggestive of oriental brush calligraphy appears. The Fox's Kettle was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in the Children's Literature-Illustration category.

Highly recommended.