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I'm a big fan of Jon Klassen's children's books, so I picked this up without even looking at the inside flap. I was also familiar with enough with Pennypacker's writing to anticipate a good story, regardless of plot.
I was delighted to see my expectations were exceeded; Pax is a lovely story about a boy who struggles with loss - that of his mother, his pet fox (the titular Pax), his familiar home as his father goes to war and leaves him with his grandfather.
The chapters switch off between Pax and Peter as they wander through the countryside separately looking for one another, after Peter's father forces him to abandon Pax in a heartbreaking scene right out of The Fox and The Hound. Their connection is a steady thread throughout the novel, even as they encounter new allies and new enemies. Pax befriends a wary vixen and her playful younger brother while Peter breaks his foot on his journey and is found by Vola, a veteran who is living in the woods.
Peter's friendship with Vola is truly a marvelous thing - it isn't often we meet veterans in fiction who are women, who have acknowledged PTSD, who are physically disabled from war. Vola has been living away from people for twenty years, carrying the blood of her opponents on her hands. She believes herself dangerous, a weapon because of how the service molded her and she's been trying to find the truth of herself ever since she lost her leg. She helps Peter with the anger he does not allow himself to feel, too afraid to be like his (heavily implied abusive) father:
Similarly, their friendship allows her to consider rejoining the world for just a little bit.
Pax is filled with a lot of Big Concepts (war, nonduality, falliability of authority figures, etc.) but I think they are presented truthfully and simply enough for the demographic to grasp easily. The bittersweet ending is a killer. Be warned.
I was delighted to see my expectations were exceeded; Pax is a lovely story about a boy who struggles with loss - that of his mother, his pet fox (the titular Pax), his familiar home as his father goes to war and leaves him with his grandfather.
The chapters switch off between Pax and Peter as they wander through the countryside separately looking for one another, after Peter's father forces him to abandon Pax in a heartbreaking scene right out of The Fox and The Hound. Their connection is a steady thread throughout the novel, even as they encounter new allies and new enemies. Pax befriends a wary vixen and her playful younger brother while Peter breaks his foot on his journey and is found by Vola, a veteran who is living in the woods.
Peter's friendship with Vola is truly a marvelous thing - it isn't often we meet veterans in fiction who are women, who have acknowledged PTSD, who are physically disabled from war. Vola has been living away from people for twenty years, carrying the blood of her opponents on her hands. She believes herself dangerous, a weapon because of how the service molded her and she's been trying to find the truth of herself ever since she lost her leg. She helps Peter with the anger he does not allow himself to feel, too afraid to be like his (heavily implied abusive) father:
We all own a beast called anger. It can serve us: many good things come of anger at bad things; many unjust things are made just. But first we all have to figure out how to civilize it.
Similarly, their friendship allows her to consider rejoining the world for just a little bit.
Pax is filled with a lot of Big Concepts (war, nonduality, falliability of authority figures, etc.) but I think they are presented truthfully and simply enough for the demographic to grasp easily. The bittersweet ending is a killer. Be warned.