Title: Pax
Author: Sarah Pennypacker (author of acclaimed Clementine series)
Illustrator: Jon Klaassen (award-winning picture book author/illustrator of I Want My Hat Back)
Format: Single book
Age group: 9+
A mesmerizing book about the profound bond between a fox and a boy.
Peter is 7 years old when he finds an abandoned and starving fox kit in the woods near his home. Peter adopts the fox and names him Pax. The two form a deep connection, “two, but not two”. But the disease of war encroaches, and Peter’s angry and restless father has caught the bug. When he decides to enlist in the army, Pax and Peter are forcibly separated after more than 5 years at each other’s side.
Told from the perspective of both protagonists, the book follows their separate and courageous quests to be reunited. The author does a marvelous job of depicting the boy’s physical and emotional angst, and the fox’s startling animal intuition. She exhaustively researched the nature of red foxes while writing the book (to learn more, hear this great interview of Pennypacker on NPR), underpinning Pax’s narrative with a necessary authenticity.
All in all, this is a lovely but definitely difficult book. It is probably best read aloud/together and discussed with children in the younger range because there are scenes of profound heartbreak, and of the grisly collateral damage of human carelessness and the landmined landscape of war. Kids who love animals and pets (or longingly dream of owning a pet) will love this book best, and the other category of kid will come away with a deeper understanding of the ties that bind us humans to animals, both wild and domesticated.
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