PAX

PAX by Sara Pennypacker. Illustrated by Jon Klassen.

Pax by Sara Pennypacker is not your traditional story of a boy and his pet overcoming an obstacle together in life and living happily ever after. Instead it is a series of hard, heart-wrenching situations that culminate with trying to right the opening chapter's wrong.

The story opens up with the sad scene of a boy, Peter, being forced to take his pet fox, Pax, out into the wild and release him. As the story progresses we learn that Pax has no idea how to live in the wild, but Peter is being forced to leave him there because his father is going to war, his mother is dead, and his grandfather's home is no place for Pax. The story then splits into two paths that the reader follows. The first follows Peter and the decision he makes to travel approximately 300 miles to find his fox. The second tracks Pax and all the hardships he endures as he struggles to learn how to survive in the wild. Both journeys are fraught with loss and harm. Many times humans are blamed for the difficulties that arise.

HEADS UP- This book really does have a sad overall tone/mood to it, so be aware of that for those that have sensitive kids. There are some war situations and there is injury that occurs to two foxes.

There is one other element that one of you members brought to my attention. There is a connectedness between Peter and Pax that goes beyond friendship. In fact, it's a Buddhist concept called non-duality. It's where things that appear separate aren't really separate. This member sent me a part of an interview with Pennypacker where she shares that she includes this Buddhist idea in her story. It's the idea that we can relate to things because we are connected.