Six years later, when left by the side of the road, Pax knew nothing of surviving in the wild. Pax, as a parentless kit only sixteen days old, was found among his dead mother and siblings and was brought home by Peter. Pax only wants to get back to the side of that road and wait for his boy to return. Peter only wants to find his way back to the side of the road, where he threw a toy for Pax to chase before they drove off. A brutal conflict over water occurs near Peter’s home, near the river and woods where Pax is left by the roadside, and three hundred miles from where Peter is left with his grandfather. War, betrayal, and fear of the unknown for both Pax and “his boy” make up the heart of this story. His father is going off to war, Peter must now go to live with his aged grandfather, and Pax must be returned to the wild.

Pax, “Through the pads of his paws, along his spine, in the sensitive whiskers at his wrists,” begins to sense danger. The car is driven by Peter’s father and headed for the woods. The story opens: “The fox felt the car slow before the boy did, as he felt everything first.” The boy is Peter the fox is Pax. And Jon Klassen‘s illustrations give depth to everything written. Sara Pennypacker has accomplished the feat of giving voice to an animal without words coming from that animal. Pax, the story of a young boy and his pet fox, rescued as a kit, is that special book. Secondly, because of the stress on both sides of the political aisle at this election time, I decided we readers need something special, something to calm us in these troubled days. First of all, it is one of those crossover novels that, because of the story and the writing, will be treasured by both young readers and adults. Two things compel me to pick Sara Pennypacker’s Pax for my next review. What? Another kids’ book? Well, yes, and no.

Pennypacker author