Evan, an orange and white fox, has a farm. It's Evan's home. His friend, a black and white dog, often stays there with him and they always help each other. They drive Evan's farm truck (卡车) and play games. They read books and have ice cream. But their favorite thing is working in Evan's yard. In the yard, plants are big and beautiful. The live happily there. But one day, the dog dies, so Evan loses his best friend. Without his best friend, the yard becomes a sad place. Evan feels so bad that he destroys (破坏) his yard.
But a good place will not stay empty (空着) for long. New plants quietly start to grow. One day, Evan finds a small pumpkin vine in his yard. He starts to look after it. Fall comes and there is a huge pumpkin in his yard.
It is the fair (集市) week. Evan takes his big pumpkin to the fair. He meets his old friends there and he enjoys nice food. Best of all, his pumpkin wins him a prize: 10 dollars or a little dog. What does Evan want? You might know the answer. Yes. He drives home with the dog.
This is the story of the book The Rough Patch. It is a 2018 picture book by US writer Brian Lies. The book won the 2019 Caldecott Medal (凯迪克大奖—绘本大奖) .