“Pax” by Sara Pennypacker is about a boy and his pet fox that are separated during a war and go on mirrored but individual adventures to find each other. The chapters are evenly split between being told from the boy, Peter’s, perspective, and from the fox, Pax’s, perspective. The story is wholesome and reads more like fable than a novel. It is clearly meant for young kids, but the messages about war and love come across very strong. Pennypacker’s message that war is universally bad and the destruction caused by “war-sick” humans causes only harm, especially to the natural world, but also to people’s mental health and family bonds is a powerful thread through the whole book. Every person and animal in this story is touched by the war and deals with their own grief and pain because of it. Overall, I enjoyed this easy read, but there were a few things that made the book, in my opinion, not as good as it could have been. There are spoilers in the following paragraphs – be aware.

The first quibble I have with the books is that the story sets up this incredible, long distance, treacherous adventure that Peter must go on to find Pax again, but just a few chapters in, Peter breaks his foot and can no longer walk. He ends up in this weird hermit woman’s barn and stays there for nearly the rest of the book. I felt betrayed by the author, as if she did not deliver on what she promised me. For that, and other reasons, I far enjoyed the chapters written from Pax’s POV better than those written from Peter’s POV. This lack of adventuring resulting in boring side stories that I can imagine would be frustrating for a young reader. Peter breaking his foot seemed like the author’s way of avoiding the story she promised the reader.

On top of the fact that Peter was trapped in the home of an odd war veteran, Vola, for the majority of the book, she was also not a very believable character. I got the sense right away that she was a vehicle for the author to inject some form of wisdom or message into the story. The hermit, Vola, came across as incredibly stereotyped and one dimensional. In addition, the conversations she had with Peter were clearly a ploy by the author to tell the story in short, “quotable” phrases. And the main character, Peter, who is supposed to be 12 years old, also felt incredibly unbelievable. He said things that I could never imagine a 12 year old saying. The way he interacted with Vola was as if he were much older, perhaps 16, rather than his true age of 12. Overall, the time Peter spent with Vola felt incredibly forced and dishonest.

Finally, the book’s ending. Spoilers ahead.

The whole book follows Peter as he’s trying to get back to Pax and Pax as he is avoiding danger in the wild and threatened by war. Pax witnesses mines exploding, killing and injuring his fox friends. He is hunted by coyotes and struggles to find food to support his companions. In the end when Peter finally finds him again, Pax has built a connection to his new life in the wild, and the reader understands that Peter will have to leave Pax in the wild where he belongs. HOWEVER, in my version of the ending, Peter would rescue Pax and his new mate from the war torn home they had been living in and bring them somewhere safe to live out the rest of their days. Instead, Peter leaves Pax in a horribly dangerous situation where he could be shot, blown up, or eaten by coyotes at any moment! The same message of leaving wild things in the wild could still be conveyed if Peter brought Pax and his fox friends somewhere safer, and perhaps even strengthened because we could have gotten more time to wrestle with making the right decision and have a more satisfying closure to the adventure that led to this reunion. The ending felt very rushed and could have been a lot stronger with an extra chapter or two to fully flesh out the details of what it means for Peter to leave Pax in the wild with his new mate.

Anyway, perhaps I’m reading too much into this short children’s book. I did enjoy it, but it could have been a lot stronger.

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Created Jan 12, 2020 at 2:35pm • Submit your own review...