How Where’s Fred? Began
Before the fox on the cover, before the finished pages — there was a notebook on a kitchen table in Grimsby, Ontario, and a real fox named Fred outside the window.
It really happened
In the winter of 2026, a wild red fox showed up in a Grimsby neighbourhood and made a home in a culvert under a neighbour’s driveway. Bob and Wendy Chrystian watched it all unfold from their own front window, alongside their cat, Sophie, who had the best seat in the house. They named him Fred. Then came Fiona. Then, after Fiona was struck by a car, a frantic neighbourhood search for eight newborn kits hidden under a garden shed — and a rescue that brought the whole street together.
Bob started writing it all down, and sketching, almost as it happened. What follows is where the book actually began: pencil in a notebook, long before any of it was typeset or illustrated.
From Bob’s Notebook
Unedited pages — sketches, crossed-out drafts, and margin notes, just as they came off the kitchen table.
Sketch → Page
A few places where the notebook and the finished book line up almost exactly.
In Her Own Words
Sophie’s introduction, from first draft to finished book.
They are real people… not really my parents, but I know they love me and we are definitely a family. They talk to me all the time, especially Mom, so I kind’a know what’s going on… My favourite place is on my Mom’s desk. There are two glasses of water on the desk so I never get thirsty. The best part is the big window that overlooks our whole front yard and all the activity on the street. I never get bored.”
Finished book
Our second home in Panicale, Italy where most of the writing took place.
