Fox's prose is markedly poetic and her intense attention to detail has won the author many awards. This novel is written in first person, a technique that draws the reader in to the personal emotions and experiences of the thirteen year old protagonist, Jessie Bollier.

Here is an excerpt from the "Style" page on "The Slave Dancer" that encapuslates what makes Fox unique. For more on the style and tone of this work, please visit the link below:

"Fox's prose is spare but poetic, filled with rich imagery grounded in intense physical detail, rhythm, and cadence. For example, when Jessie is captured and taken by a small boat to the ship, Fox writes:

"We passed a small island. I saw the glimmer of a light in a window—only that solitary, flickering yellow beacon. I felt helpless and sad as though everyone in the world had died save the three of us and the unknown lamplighter on the shore. Then, as if daylight was being born inside the boat itself, I began to make out piles of rope, a wooden bucket, a heap of rusty looking net, the thick boots of my captors.

In passages like these, Fox juxtaposes accurately drawn emotion with exact detail of place, time, and people, making the events—and the emotions—seem absolutely real."

Other elements addressed as to tone style include emotional accuaracy, which means that Fox does not shy away from recounting painful experiences as well as pleasant ones.