The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Mackesy, Charlie. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. HarperOne, October 22, 2019.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a children's graphic novel by Charlie Mackesy. As a graphic novel, the pictures and text work together to tell a story about friendship and acceptance. Four unusual friends — a boy, a mole, a fox, and a horse — share truths about life as they search for home. They have still not arrived home at the end of the book. However, the boy has learned that home is not always a place.

The book opens with the boy and mole greeting one another and becoming friends. The boy tells the mole that even though the mole is small, he is important. They begin their search for the boy’s home. The mole advises the boy not to be afraid of the wilderness they are about to enter.

In the wilderness, the boy and the mole find a fox who is caught in a snare. The fox warns the mole that he will eat him, but the mole knows the fox will die if he is not released from the snare. When the mole chews through the wire holding the fox, the fox does not kill the mole. Instead, he creates the shape of a heart with his footprints in the ground.

As the group, now consisting of the boy, the mole, and the fox, continue to travel, they cross a stream. The mole falls into the stream and is saved by the fox. A horse joins the group of friends. While the boy is riding the horse, he falls off. The horse tells him that it is okay to be afraid, that tears are a sign of strength, not weakness.

The horse admits to the boy that he can fly, but he stopped because it made the other horses jealous. The boy tells the horse that they love him even if he cannot fly. Even as the boy is speaking, pictures show wings growing on the horse’s back. The boy rides the horse as it flies.

The group of friends encounters a storm. The horse advises them to concentrate on love, that the storm will pass. As they later watch a shooting star, the boy comments that home is not always a place. The boy kisses the horse and thanks him.