PAX by Sara Pennypacker

 

PAX by Sara Pennypacker

Fiction, Animal-Human Relationships, War

Description

Hornbook

“Peter and his pet fox have been inseparable since Peter rescued Pax as a kit. Now Peter’s father has enlisted, and there’s no room at Grandfather’s house (where the boy will be staying) for a fox, tame or otherwise; Peter’s father forces his son to release Pax into the wild. Heartsick, Peter soon decides to run away to find Pax. He stumbles onto the land of a woman named Vola, a hermit who reluctantly helps the boy regain his strength after an injury and whose own tragic backstory gradually emerges. Omniscient third-person chapters alternate between Peter’s story and that of Pax, who falls in with a young vixen, her fox-kit brother, and an aging alpha who takes Pax under his protection as the fox tries to find his boy. Pennypacker’s setting is stark, the details of time and place intentionally murky, with occasional textured black-and-white illustrations by Klassen playing up scenes both ordinary-seeming (a boy in a baseball dugout) and subtly menacing (flowers trampled into the ground). “Just because it isn’t happening here doesn’t mean it isn’t happening” reads the book’s epigraph, and readers are kept off-balance throughout as soldiers, including Peter’s father, amass and prepare for an unnamed war against unidentified combatants that’s poised to take place practically in Peter’s backyard. An emotional, thought-provoking story of conflict, loyalty, and love. elissa gershowitz”

My Comments

This is a timeless book set in a timeless place. It can be read on many levels depending on the reader. Don't let the adorable cover fool you; this is a book that addresses loss, anger, moral responsibility towards animals, human's place on earth, respect, and love. One of my absolute all time favorites. Highly recommended through 8th grade for independent reading or classroom discussion. It's also a not long and it's a page turner!