Steffi Stroh

A PROPER FOX Steffi Stroh

This story is about a little fox called Findus. Findus tries hard to be a proper fox. A proper fox has to be wild and adventurous, he should steal chickens and outsmart the other animals.

But Findus is different. He finds it exhausting to be a proper fox. He prefers to smell flowers, to observe butterflies and to have interesting conversations with the chicken.

His family thinks his behaviour is strange. As hard as Findus tries to fit in, he simply doesn’t manage to be like the other foxes. One day Findus has a painful experience. But then this

is followed by a valuable encounter that helps Findus realise that being different is quite alright after all. STEFFI STROH (1982) has loved to tell stories through pictures since she was a child. Pencils and paintbrushes have been her constant companions ever since. Naturally, art was more than just a subject for her during her school years.

After completing secondary school, she studied art education as part of her teacher training programme for children with special needs. In 2009, during a six-month internship at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland, she gained extensive further knowledge and practice in the field of art education. Since 2017, in addition to her work as a special needs teacher at a primary school, Steffi Stroh has worked as an art teacher and professional illustrator. As an illustrator she develops expressive figures and imaginative worlds with both digital and analogue techniques. She is particularly interested in animals in all of their facets, and loves the challenge of drawing their expressions when facing emotional situations. Through her pedagogical work, Steffi Stroh has learned much about children’s emotional worlds and interests. This deep understanding of children is reflected in her illustrations’ characters and stories.

Steffi Stroh lives in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In her free time she loves to cook and bake, hike in the mountains and visit art museums – of course always with her sketchbook close at hand. www.steffi-stroh.de

JURY REPORT Findus, the little fox, is not like other foxes. He prefers things quiet, loves to watch animals and flowers and is not particularly brave either. And he is certainly not out to outfox others or to steal chickens. His family therefore finds him weird. And it doesn’t feel good to be different. Only when he gets to know other animals who are also not what you expect them to be, does Findus realise that being different is not bad. Everyone is good just as they are. Steffi Stroh illustrates with a powerful and zestful stroke, lovingly and realistic at the same time. The expressions on the protagonists’ faces vary skilfully, and the scenes are rich and lively, designed in warm colours. She playfully mixes different techniques so that the depiction of the animals in particular is an invitation to stroke them.