The New York Times Book Review - Katherine Rundell
Pax…is…a galvanic presence fit to join the ranks of fiction's great foxes…What makes the book truly remarkable are two things: the quality of Pennypacker's prose, which is sharp and restless and vulpine, and the pull of the love between Peter and Pax…For a writer to give voice to an animal is to purport to offer up a secret, and the difficulty becomes how to tell it without shading into cuteness. Many writers…have failed, in books in which the animal becomes the mouthpiece for the moral. Like [Katherine] Applegate and E. B. White before her, Pennypacker succeeds…The book is illustrated by the Caldecott Medal winner Jon Klassen, whose style is a perfect fit. His sharpness of line maps onto the jagged, sharp-edged quality of growing up, which Peter must do…Pax the book is like Pax the fox: half wild and wholly beautiful.
Publishers Weekly
★ 11/16/2015
Peter found Pax, a fox, when he was an orphaned kit, and he has kept him as a pet since his mother’s sudden death, five years earlier. Now Peter’s stern father is bound for an unspecified war—one fought at least partly on domestic soil—forcing 12-year-old Peter to move in with his grandfather, and to release Pax. It takes less than a night for Peter to become overwhelmed with remorse—by morning, he is hiking hundreds of miles to the spot where he reluctantly abandoned Pax. The aftermath of that separation is told in chapters that alternate between the fox and the boy’s points of view. In an exceptionally powerful, if grim story, Pennypacker (Summer of the Gypsy Moths) does a remarkable job of conveying the gritty perspective of a sheltered animal that must instantly learn to live in the wild (“Orphaned before he’d been weaned, Pax had never eaten raw prey. His hunger rose at the blood-scent and so did his curiosity”). Both boy and fox encounter characters who drastically rearrange their worldview: after Peter is injured, he is taken in by Vola, a veteran who has lost a leg and has strong feelings about the true costs of war. The opening scene promises heartbreak that the rest of the story delivers, as boy and fox journey to reunite, each dramatically altered by what it takes to get there. Art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Feb.)
From the Publisher
“Pax the book is like Pax the fox: half wild and wholly beautiful.” — New York Times Book Review
“Moving and poetic.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Pennypacker’s expert, evenhanded storytelling reveals stunning depth in a relatively small package.” — Booklist (starred review)
“In an exceptionally powerful, if grim story, Pennypacker does a remarkable job of conveying the gritty perspective of a sheltered animal that must instantly learn to live in the wild.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A startling work of fiction that should be read-and discussed-by children and adults alike.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“An emotional, thought-provoking story of conflict, loyalty, and love.” — The Horn Book
“Sometimes an author steps aside from a popular series to break new ground, as evidenced in this arresting novel, at once a wilderness adventure about survival and a philosophical foray into big questions.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Pennypacker’s elegant language and insight into human nature spin a fable extolling empathy above all. By the novel’s poignant ending, Pennypacker has gently made the case that all of us should aspire to that view—children and adults alike.” — Time magazine
“Searingly honest and heartbreakingly lovely, Pax is, quite simply, a masterpiece.” — Katherine Applegate, Newbery Award-winning author of The One and Only Ivan
“A sweeping and enchanting wartime story of trust, loyalty, betrayal, and the love of a boy for the fox he’s raised since he was a kit. A master storyteller, Pennypacker leads the reader along a path of shifting hopes to the story’s heart-wrenching conclusion.” — Ann M. Martin, Newbery Honoree, author of Rain Reign
“Pax is set in an unspecified time and place so that the details of the war are unimportant. What is prime is the graceful but haunting story of boy and fox—their relationship set against man-made chaos.” — Columbus Dispatch
“Both boy and fox experience the kindness of others even with the backdrop of imminent war.” Recommended 2016 Holiday Gift for Tween Readers — Brightly
“A book that is as much about dealing with loss as it is about how people change and affect the world around them.”An Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade Book of 2016 — Entertainment Weekly
Ann M. Martin
A sweeping and enchanting wartime story of trust, loyalty, betrayal, and the love of a boy for the fox he’s raised since he was a kit. A master storyteller, Pennypacker leads the reader along a path of shifting hopes to the story’s heart-wrenching conclusion.
Katherine Applegate
Searingly honest and heartbreakingly lovely, Pax is, quite simply, a masterpiece.
Booklist (starred review)
Pennypacker’s expert, evenhanded storytelling reveals stunning depth in a relatively small package.
Time magazine
Pennypacker’s elegant language and insight into human nature spin a fable extolling empathy above all. By the novel’s poignant ending, Pennypacker has gently made the case that all of us should aspire to that view—children and adults alike.
New York Times Book Review
Pax the book is like Pax the fox: half wild and wholly beautiful.
San Francisco Chronicle
Sometimes an author steps aside from a popular series to break new ground, as evidenced in this arresting novel, at once a wilderness adventure about survival and a philosophical foray into big questions.
The Horn Book
An emotional, thought-provoking story of conflict, loyalty, and love.
San Francisco Chronicle
Sometimes an author steps aside from a popular series to break new ground, as evidenced in this arresting novel, at once a wilderness adventure about survival and a philosophical foray into big questions.
Entertainment Weekly
A book that is as much about dealing with loss as it is about how people change and affect the world around them.”An Entertainment Weekly Best Middle Grade Book of 2016
Columbus Dispatch
Pax is set in an unspecified time and place so that the details of the war are unimportant. What is prime is the graceful but haunting story of boy and fox—their relationship set against man-made chaos.
Brightly
Both boy and fox experience the kindness of others even with the backdrop of imminent war.” Recommended 2016 Holiday Gift for Tween Readers
Brightly.com
Both boy and fox experience the kindness of others even with the backdrop of imminent war.” Recommended 2016 Holiday Gift for Tween Readers
School Library Journal
12/01/2016
Gr 4–7—With moving prose, Pennypacker tells an unusual, viscerally affecting story of war, loss, and the power of friendship. Alternating perspectives between a boy and his pet fox, the novel tracks each character's quest to reunite after their forced separation in a conflict-ridden landscape. Klassen's black-and-white drawings add to the haunting atmosphere of this startling title that children and adults will want to discuss together.
School Library Journal - Audio
★ 07/01/2016
Gr 4–7—Somewhere close, sometime soon, war is coming. Twelve-year-old Peter and his fox, Pax, are forced apart by a father whose noble intentions have devastating results. When Peter's father enlists in the military, he pressures Peter to return Pax to the wild, while Peter is sent 300 miles away to live with his grandfather. Almost immediately, Peter realizes his grave mistake and knows he must get home to Pax. Both boy and fox rely on the kindness of strangers to survive: for Peter, an acerbic veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder; for Pax, a pair of orphan siblings. Pennypacker creates a viscerally affecting story of the impossible nature of war—"Do you think anyone in the history of this world ever set out to fight for the wrong side?"—and the inescapable consequences that befall the youngest and smallest in the wake of death and destruction. The simple title, beyond the name, proves to be an undeniable prayer for peace. Michael Curran-Dorsano's gentle narration, infused with just the right emotional vibrato, magnifies Pennypacker's extraordinary tale with immediacy and impact. VERDICT A must-have for all libraries serving middle grade students. ["With spare, lyrical prose, Pennypacker manages to infuse this tearjerker with a tender hope, showing that peace and love can require just as much sacrifice as war": SLJ 12/15 starred review of the Balzer + Bray book.]—Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
MARCH 2016 - AudioFile
Peter and his pet fox, Pax, are inseparable until war parts them. Then, Peter must live with his grandfather and set the fox free. Narrator Michael Curran-Dorsano recounts their parallel journeys. As he exists in the wild, Pax questions domesticity. Peter begins as a submissive boy bent on staying safe, but Curran-Dorsano hints at dark feelings that lurk below his acquiescence. As Peter journeys to find his fox, he becomes the unwilling mentee of Vola, a jaded ex-soldier, who challenges Peter to find his true self. Curran-Dorsano renders Vola’s outward harshness and underlying caring. This haunting story about war, sacrifice, and survival has action as well. Curran-Dorsano’s pacing quickens into breathlessness in these scenes as he gives them the same fullness he brings to his characterizations. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-10-19
A motherless boy is forced to abandon his domesticated fox when his father decides to join soldiers in an approaching war. Twelve-year-old Peter found his loyal companion, Pax, as an orphaned kit while still grieving his own mother's death. Peter's difficult and often harsh father said he could keep the fox "for now" but five years later insists the boy leave Pax by the road when he takes Peter to his grandfather's house, hundreds of miles away. Peter's journey back to Pax and Pax's steadfastness in waiting for Peter's return result in a tale of survival, intrinsic connection, and redemption. The battles between warring humans in the unnamed conflict remain remote, but the oncoming wave of deaths is seen through Pax's eyes as woodland creatures are blown up by mines. While Pax learns to negotiate the complications of surviving in the wild and relating to other foxes, Peter breaks his foot and must learn to trust a seemingly eccentric woman named Vola who battles her own ghosts of war. Alternating chapters from the perspectives of boy and fox are perfectly paced and complementary. Only Peter, Pax, Vola, and three of Pax's fox companions are named, conferring a spare, fablelike quality. Every moment in the graceful, fluid narrative is believable. Klassen's cover art has a sense of contained, powerful stillness. (Interior illustrations not seen.) Moving and poetic. (Animal fantasy. 9-13)
