Pax

Pax #1

by Sara Pennypacker, Jon Klassen (Cover Illustrator), Michael Curran-Dorsano (Narrator)

National Book Award Longlist * New York Times Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of the YearFrom bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes a beautifully wrought, utterly compelling novel about the powerful relationship between a boy and his fox. Pax is destined to become a classic, beloved for generations to come. Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day, the unimaginable Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather's house, three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be-with Pax. He strikes out on his own despite the encroaching war, spurred by love, loyalty, and grief, to be reunited with his fox. Meanwhile Pax, steadfastly waiting for his boy, embarks on adventures and discoveries of his own. . . .

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Animals, Childrens, Young Adult, War, Adventure

6 pages, Audiobook

First published February 2, 2016

Reviews

[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best middle grade and children's category 2016!

when i first saw this book advertised at BEA, i did an anticipation-dance while drooling over that cover. it was a very messy dance, like a drunken sprinkler, and i guess it dizzied me into thinking this was a picture book. i couldn't wait to get my hands on it, and the day it came out i barreled straight over to the kids department and after rerouting myself from the picture book section, i grabbed a copy and had to pause for confusion. words?? why so many words?

there are actually very few pictures in here, and there isn't even a fox in all of them, which was kind of disappointing at first, but then i read it and there was no more disappointment. okay, there was significantly less disappointment.



this is a powerful story; it's harsh, but it's honest.

it's war and nature and violence and death and love and duty and loyalty and sacrifice. which, to be fair, would have been a lot for a picture book to take on, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

there are some middle grade books that you read when you're a kid that are totally disposable; just reading for reading's sake and you forget all about 'em ten minutes after they're done. but then there are some that are a little more challenging, that inspire complicated emotions lasting well into adulthood. for me, it was Island of the Blue Dolphins, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Trumpet of the Swan, The Incredible Journey, etc, and i just know that if i were a wee young'un today, this would also become one of those books for me.

it's a lovely story about a boy and his pet fox, separated by war, and their struggle to reunite. it's tender and sad and fervent emotional stuff. i didn't cry, because that's a rare and beautiful thing, but i got one of those lumps in my throat that was either temporary cancer or feelings.

my roaring about the ending of the book was written immediately after finishing it, and now that i have had a little bit of time to process it, i am somewhat less reactionary. the ending itself is fine - fair and reasonable and not dissimilar to many other books/films of its kind. is it what i wanted to happen? no, but i also didn't want andie to end up with blaine because duh.



but i do feel left in limbo - there are a couple of hanging chads bugging me and preventing me from a full-on embrace of the story. i understand with my logic-brain that it's more effective to have the book end where it did in full emotional flower of instead of having a "time passes" epilogue or something, but it does give me a little resolution-agita.

ending the book there is kind of unfair to the vola storyline. peter spends most of the book under her care, they change each other for the better, but then he takes leave of her so abruptly, neither of them is given emotional closure. obviously, peter is in a hurry to find pax - that's been his goal the whole book long, and time is of the essence, but by not returning to her in some way at the end; whether it be stated or implicit, it feels ungrateful of peter and shortsighted of the author in not giving them a less rushed farewell, or one where there is a more explicit acknowledgment of their paths crossing again in the future.

the same goes for peter and his father - there's no sense of how what peter has gone through and the strength and control he now knows himself to have will affect his relationship with his father in the future. peter has grown into a more confident person who no longer worries about inheriting his father's violence, but how will this "new" peter coexist with his father? what will their relationship become? they don't get a real confrontation scene, which seems odd, and i don't really understand peter's father as a character. he's severe in his grief, and physically aggressive, yet he's charmed by pax's appearance in the tent, so he's not irredeemably evil. but the scene where the therapist comes to the house is hard to reconcile or explain. i'm not sure what he was so angry about there, or what he is to this book other than "what peter does not want to become."

i'm not sure what peter's life will be without pax. pax is going to be fine - he has an instant new family to fill the hole peter leaves behind. peter has just had loss (mother) followed by loss (vola) followed by loss (pax), and now he's left with just his father and this war that's going to break at amy minute.

and what is this war, even?

by choosing to focus on only the micro - the reunion however brief, between pax and peter, it undermines the seriousness of this war; after we have been told to "tell the truth about war" and have actually seen the "truth" of it as enacted upon the animals, if not the human loss. the war is unresolved, unexplained and mostly just serving as a threat - ominously painting the story's background with its irrevocable approach only to be supplanted by a goodbye scene and left … still coming.

so, yeah -it seems i do still have a problem with the way the ending was handled, but i'm not gonna let that ruin my day or the five-star feel of this book in my heart.

the heart wants what the heart wants and the heart is also able to overlook as many flaws as it has to if there are enough strong positive feelings inside.



**********************************************

MY COPY IS DEFECTIVE!! DIFFERENT ENDING PLEASE.

review to come, regardless of this fact.

come to my blog!

[Emily May · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 1/2 stars.

My ultimate weakness is animal stories.

I'm not much of a book crier, to be honest. If you pack the emotional punches in a non-manipulative way, then you might get a sniffle or a watery sheen over my eyes. But if you want to make me sob, go for the animals. Especially animals that look like this:



Yes, I'm shallow like that. I still think this is the saddest, most awful thing I've ever seen in a movie/book/tv show.

What I'm saying is: I went into Pax expecting to have my heart ripped out. In fact, I wanted it. As soon as I heard this was a moving story about a boy and his pet fox, my tear ducts got ready for action. But, unfortunately, it just missed the mark for me.

When Peter's father enlists in the war, he makes Peter release his pet fox - Pax - into the wild. But Peter immediately regrets it and decides to set out to find his best friend, who also happens to be trying to find him. Both will face struggles and new realizations along the way.

There's a lot of repetition of the story's main message - that humans destroy everything with war and that war is the ultimate horror of horrors. Even for a middle grade novel, it lacked a little depth. And it grew very slow in parts.

I got the feeling that it would have made a better short story than a full-length children's novel. Partly because it got so repetitive, but also because Peter's journey to find Pax is a long, boring trek with some chapters feeling thrown in to pad out the story. I also only liked Pax's perspectives in the beginning. After a while, his animal narrative became more and more of the same - scents, food and "I need to find my boy".

Though I think the real let down for me was the ending. I pushed through some of the novel's slower parts in order to reach a conclusion I was sure would destroy me. I predicted what would happen, but that was okay - it didn't need to be surprising to have an impact.

Yet, there was no impact. It kind of petered out... flat, emotionless and brushed under the carpet. Not even a sniffle.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube | Store

[Charlotte May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still just as heart warming and heart wrenching the second time 💖 Now I can dive straight into the sequel!

************************
Original review

“The plain truth can be the hardest thing to see when it’s about yourself. If you don’t want to know the truth, you’ll do anything to disguise it.”

3.5 stars ⭐️

This was a really sweet book. Peter and Pax have been best friends since Peter saved Pax as a cub. When the war strikes and Peter’s dad enlists, he is sent to live with his grandfather, but Pax can’t come. He is abandoned on the side of the road, his favourite toy thrown into the woods, in the hope he will follow it in.
However, Peter is wracked with guilt and fear for Pax’s survival. He has never hunted before, knows nothing of the wild - how will he get by?
So Peter runs away, to cover the 200 miles back to where they left Pax, in the hope he can find him before anything bad happens to him.
While on his travels Peter meets Vola. A wonderful lady who lives alone on her farm with her wood carvings. I loved Vola, she is real and flawed and cares an awful lot about Peter.
Almost 4 stars were it not for the ending. It’s not that it was a bad ending, and I don’t see how it could have ended any other way. But it seemed rushed, and I’d have liked to have known what happens after that. aka whether Peter goes back to Vola, does he visit Pax regularly or never see him again? I think a good epilogue would have tied up the loose ends.
But overall a sweet story, alternating POVs between Peter and Pax. Plus the illustrations were fantastic.

[Mischenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pax is a story about the separation of a young boy named Peter and his pet fox, Pax. As a baby, Pax’s parents were killed and he was taken in by Peter. Peter raised him and gave him the care that he needed to grow; he was devoted to Pax and they developed a powerful relationship.

Then the unexpected happens: war is on the horizon and Peter’s dad tells him Pax must go back to the wild. Peter will be forced to stay with his grandfather, miles from Pax. It’s heartbreaking for Peter to be separated from Pax, and his father is less than sympathetic. It isn’t long until Peter takes matters into his own hands and sets off to navigate miles of wilderness to reunite with his beloved fox.

We’re all animal lovers here and couldn’t wait to read Pax. I ended up reading this with my two middle graders, and at first we were all engaged, but about half way through they were losing some interest because parts of the book seemed to drag on. They were anxious to discover the ending, but they were also able to figure it out well beforehand. Perhaps this was because Pax’s adventures in the wild are shared in between Peter’s perspective which prompts you to put two and two together. It’s certainly not the ending we wanted, but it was an understandable and acceptable ending. I had hoped there might be a little more continuation to it, but overall the story was wrapped up nicely.

Pax truly is a wonderful story which opens up for a lot of discussion. There’s so much going on with these characters and much more to think about than just Peter finding Pax. I personally thought the book was written well and enjoyed this story. The alternating point of view between Pax and Peter kept me engaged and characters were well-developed and interesting. Peter and Pax learn many lessons on their way back to one another. It’s a beautiful story with themes of friendship, human/animal companionship, perseverance, and also a sobering reminder of the consequences of war.

Occasionally we subbed in the audio, but we were happier just reading this out loud together.

4-stars

[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Click here to watch a video review of this book on my channel, From Beginning to Bookend.

Twelve-year-old Peter's greatest companion is his fox, Pax. When they are divided by necessity in preparation for impending war, Peter's need for his fox and his regret over the way they were separated is so great that he embarks on a difficult journey to be reunited with Pax. Meanwhile, Pax must learn to fend for himself in the wild, a new and foreign terrain he's entirely unfamiliar with. The destruction of war threatens his new habitat, and he struggles to survive long enough to see Peter again.

Chapters alternate between Peter and Pax, charting their parallel adventures. Peter's chapters are occasionally difficult to believe; what he accomplishes as a twelve-year-old boy is quite a feat. The help he finds along the way makes for a touching story of friendship, recovery, and self-discovery. Pax's chapters shine. His view of the world is cleverly portrayed, playing on the use of his senses to perceive his surroundings. The author superlatively demonstrates Pax's limited understanding of Peter and his unfailing devotion:

The fox licked at the [boy's] tears and then grew more confused. There was no scent of blood. He squirmed out of the boy's arms to inspect his human more carefully, alarmed that he could have failed to notice an injury, although his sense of smell was never wrong.

Whatever his boy needed - protection, distraction, affection - he would have offered.

Because this is a middle grade novel, it bears mentioning that mature topics are explored. Pax makes mention of anxiety, PTSD, war and loss of bodily limbs. The book deals a lot with death, often portraying it graphically. While this book may help to nurture a young reader's sympathy and compassion for animals, the subject matter doesn't always seem suitable for its intended audience. Parents are well advised to first read Pax before handing it to their little ones.

What he sensed alarmed him. He tried to describe it: Air choked with death. Fire and smoke. Blood in a river, the river running red with it, the earth drowning in blood. Chaos.

Lessons include how thoughtless and destructive mankind can be, the challenges and triumphs of self-discovery, the search for truth, and the true cost of war.

"The plain truth can be the hardest thing to see when it's about yourself. If you don't want to know the truth, you'll do anything to disguise it."

How many kids this week, he wondered, had woken up to find their worlds changed that way, their parents gone off to war, maybe never coming home? [. . .] How many kids went hungry? How many had to move? How many pets had they had to leave behind to fend for themselves?
And why didn't anyone count those things?

Despite the difficult subject matter, Pax is a tale of loyalty and responsibility, beautifully rendered for lasting impact.

The blackness had quivered with the rustle of night prowlers, and even the sounds of the trees themselves - leaves unfurling, sap coursing up new wood, the tiny cracklings of expanding bark - had startled him over and over as he waited for Peter to return.

Readers won't soon forget the story of Pax and his devoted boy, Peter.

[Kayla Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book, especially the illustrations were awesome. I absolutely adored the style and they helped building the atmosphere a lot.





*potential spoiler ahead*

I definitely get why some people are disappointed by that ending but I actually felt like it was the right thing to do.

[H.L. Burke · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book started out with a lot of promise to me. I had been eyeing it on the self of my local library for a long time, but finally decided to pick it up this last week because that is a beautiful cover, and the first chapter is beautifully written. I'd say any time we are in the fox's POV it is beautifully written, honestly, and there are places in the boy's POV that are good too ... but the further I got into this story the more frustrated I got. The message is pretty heavy handed, and it's not a hard or subtle message. The "war is bad," "humans are destructive" thing is not a new lesson to be learned, and it tends to be treated with a lot more nuance by other authors.
It's going to be hard to break down my major issues without touching on the ending a lot, so I'm going to put spoiler tags after this point.
First off, I never got a handle on the setting/time frame. I spent the first half of the book trying to figure out where this was taking place and if the rumored war was historical or a made up war in the not so distant future. I'm leaning towards the second, but it's odd because the story is really grounded in our real world, but has a very old fashioned feel to it. It doesn't feel like the modern world, but it also doesn't really feel like any place I know. I think the author was going for "timeless" but the choice to use an obviously American setting was, I think, a mistake to achieve this.
The realization that war was on American soil (over water, apparently? It seemed like the author couldn't decide between realism or making the war sort of a vague idea that represents war generally rather than a real war so she kind of fell in a weird place that gave me just enough details to make me question the reality and "how" this is happening without giving me any eventual answers ... would've worked better if they'd kept everything a lot more vague.). Also, the war is happening about 200 miles from where people appear to be living very normal lives (with no fear of bombings or airstrikes ... which again, messed with my impressions of this being a modern era/futuristic/realistic war). The author didn't really commit to the dystopian future needed to pull of the realism of a modern war on American soil ... but the attempts to provide real world details kept pulling me out of the fantasy of a made up war in an unknown land ...
K, now the rest of my problems circle around the ending:
the ending is abrupt and unhappy but completely unearned and doesn't fit the rest of the story very well.
1. The boy letting the fox go back to the wild was actually completely expected because that is how 90% of these stories end, and we've been seeing the fox get comfy in his new wildness throughout the story ... HOWEVER, the boy just got through thinking how dangerous this area he's releasing the fox into was and he just sends him off into it with no attempts to move him to a safer area, knowing full well he can't stop the advancing war. It doesn't make sense to the character's internal logic.
2. The boy never really deals with his father. The father is a strawman for an unloving (maybe abusive? The story never commits to him being abusive, so it was hard for me to hate him the way the ending appeared to want me to hate him.) parent who never gets a chance to speak for himself or explain his choices. And in the end rather than resolve the father/son relationship, to try and heal it, the ending is the boy determining to be not like his father and turning his back on him rather than trying to heal. Honestly, other than being willing to fight to defend his home from an invading force (which we are supposed to believe is a bad thing in this world) and making the boy give up the fox because it will be hard on the grandfather ... we're only really give vague hints that the father is anything but a sad, lost man who doesn't know how to handle life and fatherhood after the death of his wife, and I was really disappointed in the approach of "it's okay to throw away your father because you don't approve of his choices" that the ending seemed to indicate.
There is a clue given in a newspaper clipping that the father intentionally let the fox fall into danger, but the idea that the father masterminded the fox potentially dying doesn't really work to make him a "villain" because we're not given any motive why he would do this or explanation of his side of things.
but rather than approach his character with understanding, the end wants the reader to turn away from him and those of his ilk (called "war-sick.") which is really annoying to me especially as a military spouse who knows that men who have gone through these sorts of experiences don't need condemnation and "hollier than thou" judgments about how "broken" they are. There's a reason veterans have a high rate of suicide and substance abuse, and dang, this story is like, "well, that's okay, because they're broken beyond fixing and we don't need to bother to love them, just learn from their mistakes and move on."
In fairness, the broken but healing character of former soldier Vola is probably meant to show that they can be fixed, but it does this by showing that she's so broken she has to live in the woods for two decades to redeem herself.
So veterans are either disposable because broken
or
so broken that they can't lead normal lives and therefore must go into the woods for a 20 year penance.
Honestly, when I read the book my first thought was, "well, that's just not a good ending" but the more I think back about it, the more this book goes from, "Not a good ending" to "this is actually making me a little angry."

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. Oh my. This story broke my heart and then healed it too. A beautiful beautiful story.

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

۳/۵
کارتون وال ای رو دیدید؟ این روباهیشه
بعنوان رمان نوجوان واقعا خوبه، کلی ام درس زندگی داره که من حوصله ندارم اینجا بگم.
یکم ممکن غم انگیز باشه، اگر خواستید به نوجوانی هدیه بدید، پیشنهاد میکنم شرایط روحیش رو در نظر بگیرید.

[Tonkica · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

Volim Paxa već duge četiri godine. Prije tri sam ga dobila na dar za rođendan od svojih dragih čitalica i jedna mi je od dražih priča na polici. Prijateljstvo dječaka Petera i lisice Paxa je posebno i kao takvo preporuka i za male, ali i za velike.

Cijeli osvrt na duologiju pronađite ovdje: https://knjige-u-svom-filmu.webador.c...

[Brandy Painter · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.

I was really hoping that 2016 would be different than 2015 when it came to me and super hyped beloved by the kidlit powers that be MG books. If Pax by Sara Pennypacker is any indication, I'm still going to be one of the minority dissenters. So be it. Honestly, I could write an entire post about the sort of books that get the most attention and promotion from said powers and what that says about the priorities of the kidlit elite, but for today I will stick to my thoughts on this particular book.

Pax is a fox who was rescued as a helpless kit whose family was killed by a boy named Peter. His entire life has been knowing Peter and Peter's care for him. Then one day they drive to a distant place, Peter starts a game of fetch, and then drives off with his father. Leaving Pax alone to fend for himself for the first time ever. Pax is in denial and stays close to the road hoping for Peter's return. But soon the events in the forest and the lives of the other foxes draw him in and he begins to form new ties and learn to be a fox in the wild. Meanwhile, Peter realizes he did a terrible thing following his father's instructions to abandon Pax. He sets off to find him despite the distance separating them and the looming war that has him now living with his grandfather while his father volunteers to serve in the military. Injured in his journey, Peter is taken in by Vola, a lonely hermit woman who is an injured veteran of a war herself. They help each other get back on their feet before Peter sets back out to reunite with his fox.

Let me say this first: The sentence level writing of this book is remarkable. The language, imagery, and sentence structure is beautiful. If we wanted to laude books solely on how poetic they are, I would be throwing the world's biggest party for this one. But that's not why I read books. It's always a nice plus, but it's not enough to make me love a book on its own.

Regular readers of this blog know that I don't go in for animal stories much. My dislike of them is, however, proportionate to how much the animals are acting like humans. This is not the case here. The foxes are very much foxes. I loved the foxes. In fact, if this book had been all about the foxes my feelings would be very different. Pax learning to hunt and succeeding. My heart. His relationship with all the other foxes and how he begins to take care of them. My heart. The fox community and the way the human incursion is impacting them is so well done. The foxes are real characters you can feel for. The themes of broken humanity and its affect on everything shown through their eyes are subtilely rendered.

The humans ruin everything.

This is funny because that is literally the theme of the book, but for me the human characters ruined the book. Peter is as flat a character as you can find. He is a prop. Vola swoops in to teach him things, but ends up needing him just as much. She imparts wisdom. He teaches her to live again. Sound heartwarming? It possibly could have been if their chapters weren't filled with rambling dialogue intended to whack the reader upside the head with the moral of the story. Enough already. I got it. Humans suck. War sucks. The military is Evil. I. Got. It. Already. All subtlety and nuance were tossed out the window in these chapters. The book's pacing also takes a hit as these chapters are longer (or perhaps just feet longer?), and I kept wanting them to stop talking and get back to the foxes. It was a very strange position for me to be in. Character matters to me more than any other part of a book though. This book failed on every level with human characters. I have some issues with the relationship dynamics here too. One thing I have to amusedly appreciate about this section is how much Pennypacker was able to put the word "damned" into a book for children merely by using the Haitian-Creole form of the word.

The end of the book is annoying as well. There is a certain amount of closure to both personal journeys of fox and boy, but one can not ignore the fact they are both still in the middle of an area about to erupt into a full out military battle. (Peter will probably be fine. My expectations for the foxes are less hopeful. Sadly I'm more invested in their welfare.) The book's setting is completely undefined, however it has a very dystopian feel to it. There are enough hints to know it is in a future North America. A war is about to be fought with the "west" over a lack of water. (It's definitely North America because coyotes play an integral part in the plot.) I'm not giving this a genre tag as a result. It's not contemporary or historical. I can't label it sci-fi despite the future aspect because it's not really sci-fi. And yes, this was frustrating and distracting to me for a good 1/3 of the book. Being confused about where/when I am in a story distracts from my being able to lose myself in the story. That combined with how bored and annoyed I was by Peter's chapters left me more than a little underwhelmed overall.

My experience reading Pax was eerily similar to my experience watching the Pixar movie Wall-E. It is the same story and themes, but with foxes instead of robots. (Pax is Wall-E. Bristle is Eve. Exactly.) Do you know how many kids I know who actually enjoy Wall-E? It's a small list. So who is this book for? To me it feels very much like one of those books adults want to give to kids so they will Learn an Important Lesson about life. Could it win the 2017 Newbery? Absolutely. I think that is the very reason it was published. There are some books I read, and automatically think, "This is medal bait." That is a far cry from me reading a book and thinking, "This deserves a medal." For me this goes squarely in the former category.

I read an ARC provided by the publisher, Balzer & Bray, via Edelweiss. Pax is on sale now.

[Lauren Danton · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the feels! All of them!
I haven't loved a kids book the way I love Pax in a very long time. Brought me back to watching (and sobbing through) Homeward Bound as a kid.
This journey is told through the eyes of Pax and his human, Peter, as they go through feats to find one another.
This story is simple and complex all at once and has deeper issues than just finding a beloved pet. It will appeal to kids and satisfy adults as well.

[Теодор Панов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Много симпатична книжка с трогателна история се оказа „Пакс“. История за едно момче (Питър) и неговото лисиче (Пакс), които се оказват разделени заради започването на война.

Макар и определена като преобладаващо детска, сюжетът на книгата разгръща и разглежда теми, над които и големите могат да се замислят и да потърсят отговори – като отношенията в семейството, загубите, приятелството, войната – какво я поражда, последиците от нея и как ни променя.

Главите в книгата се редуват и са представени от гледната точка и на Питър, и на Пакс. Хареса ми как са описани отношенията между лисиците и общуването между тях. И как една опитомена лисица, изоставена в дивата природа, се приспособява и се опитва да оцелее и да се справи с опасностите и предизвикателствата – като това как да си набавя храна.

Отделено е и голямо внимание какво войната причинява не само на хората, но и на животните, и до какви поражения води и при тях.

Около историята на Питър беше интересно да се проследи неговата мотивация да открие и да си върне обратно лисичето, въпреки затрудненията му заради счупения крак, той не се отказва и е готов да пропътува цялото разстояние до изоставения си дом, докато достигне отново до Пакс.

Вола – жената, която му оказва крайно важната помощ за това, също е един много достоен персонаж с интересна история.

Книгата съдържа и красиво поднесени илюстрации.

А скоро предстои и излизането на втората част на „Пакс“, която отново ще ми е любопитно да проследя.


(изображението не е част от книгата)

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted to read this book because I have always had a fondness for foxes. Another beautifully written book for young adults. It is all about the bond between a boy Peter and his pet fox.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really sure how I feel. On the one hand, this is a beautifully written, beautifully illustrated, book.

On the other hand, who is it for?

It's violent in places, even gross, with animals being killed and having body parts blown off. Because it's about war, and the horrors of war, but war that takes place . . . where? And when? So in a way it's sort of a fairy tale, or cautionary tale. But my kids had trouble following it because they were trying to figure out: is this WWII? Is this now, in the Middle East? Is it here in America, in the future? And I didn't know what to tell them either. I liked how Pennypacker explored the lives and communication of foxes, but the heavy-hitting moral about war was, I think, rather clumsily done. I could have handled the death and maiming, if the rest of the book had been a bit clearer, but it was just one more element that didn't really add up. I picked up this book because we all love foxes, and Jon Klassen, not because I'm trying to teach my children about the brutality of Life.

On a side note, it seems that we have entered another era of Dead Animal Stories. When I was a kid, you just knew that if you picked up a book with an animal on the cover, the animal (dog, horse, deer, whatever) would be dead by the end. Then kid when through a golden time when the animals lived. But now we're starting to see more and more dead animals stories again! Dead elephants, dead foxes . . . really, people? Didn't we learn from Bambi, and Black Beauty, and Where the Red Fern Grows?

[Karina · Rating 2 out of 5]

That's all it was. Just okay. There was no sadness or great plot between Pax and Peter that I could be awed or shed a sweet tear about. There was talk of a war but I kept wondering what country or timeline this was supposed to be. I guess the story was so bleh it wouldn't have made a difference. It was nice to learn how foxes communicate and someone getting them as kits could train them to be tame like dogs.

When I realized I didn't like it much I started skimming and then tried to read it as a young kid probably between the ages of 9-13 and I still couldn't like it any better. I still finished it and forgot about it as soon as I set it down.

[Susan Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great story about a boy and his fox. Pax was taken in as a kit by his boy. After five years his father makes him leave the fox in the woods saying it is because of the war. His heart is broken and this book is about both their journeys. You alternate between the story of the fox and the story of the boy. It is a very heartfelt story that I didn't want to stop. Beautifully written and full of emotion, the characters were wonderful and you rooted them on. This is a pretty short read and I would definitely recommend. I loved it.

[Aja: The Narcoleptic Ninja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I haven’t written a review about this book yet because I don’t really have anything to say about it. Overall, it was just kind of… meh. It’s disappointing because I expected to like this book or at least be affected by it in some way, but the truth is it didn’t tug at the heartstrings, it didn’t make me cry, and it didn’t really make me react at all.

The book gets kind of repetitive early on. It switches between Peter’s perspective and Pax’s and all the chapters are fairly similar: Peter is toiling away and thinking about how he needs to find his fox more quickly, and Pax is exploring new scents and places and thinking about finding his boy. Actually, in all honesty, the book is kind of preachy. It’s okay if you have a good story that’s preaching a good message, but when the story is just okay, it feels like the message came first and the story was an afterthought which shouldn’t be the case, especially with a middle grade book. You need to get your reader truly involved before you start smacking them with the people-ruin-everything mallet.

The ending was… predictable, but not what I wanted nor what I think should have happened in this particular story. I liked the truth that Peter learned about himself, but again, the author tried to things up in a way that didn’t really fit. I get that Peter was treating Pax the same way that Vola treated him, but when your fox lives 300 MILES from your new home then ‘I’ll leave the porch door open’ doesn’t really work.

[teach_book · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 🌟

Ta historia to taki nowy "Mały Książę". To książka o dzikości, przyjaźni, stracie i wojnie, która sieje spustoszenie nie tylko w życiu ludzi, lecz przede wszystkim w życiach zwierząt.

"Czasami jabłko pada bardzo daleko od jabłoni."

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written, I suppose, but I was disappointed when I learned this is not just about a boy separated from his pet fox, but is also a middle grade grief book. I'm just so sick of that storyline! Then, on top of my disgust over that well-worn path for character development and plot tension, the sadness of Peter leaving Pax and Pax's struggle to survive made this a book that I had a hard time enjoying. Going into this knowing it was an animal book made me expect sadness, of course, but I think you need to like and enjoy the characters in order for it to be the type of sadness that you can experience while simultaneously enjoying the experience of reading about it. Unfortunately, Peter's father was a one-dimensional villain and the theme of war/humans=bad was a too repetitive. Peter himself was just okay--nothing special. I also didn't enjoy Peter's stint with Vola. I just thought it was boring and too long, and I didn't find her character or Peter's transformation under her care believable. I only looked forward to the parts from Pax's perspective. I also found the ending less than satisfying. Even though it's what I wanted to happen and what I thought was going to happen, it didn't have much punch to it. I wish it would have ended on Pax's perspective rather than Peter's, because I think that would have made it more emotional.

[Britany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boy meets fox, enter war, lives change

Peter's best friend is a pet fox named Pax. Suddenly, Peter's dad forces Peter to free the fox at the end of a dirt road and drops him at his grandfather's house. The bulk of the stories goes back and forth between Peter and Pax's perspectives as they try to piece together life without each other and desperately try to reunite. Will the introduction of war keep them apart?

A nice story of a boy and his best animal friend. My heart warmed thinking of my little pup many times throughout this one. It was nice to watch these characters develop and mature as they had to face surviving in the wild. A good read, even though I'm outside of the target demo.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book for review, and then proceeded to read the entire book in one sitting. This is one of the most remarkable books, let alone middle-grade reader books, that I've read in a very long time. Pennypacker's prose is crystalline, surprising, and utterly lovely as she bounds from Pax's perspective to Peter's, and back again. I so appreciate that even though this book is "for younger reader's," she doesn't condescend to them in the slightest; she raised the bar and expects kids to rise to it, and I have no doubt that they will. This is not a light, playful tale of a boy and his pet; it is a complicated meditation on the costs of war and relationships--what we gain and what we lose when we offer ourselves to others to be "tamed." What a shock, I wept and wept and wept when I finished it, not entirely because of the ending; rather, I wept because it ended.
Truly a fantastic book that I hope will be on the shelves of young readers for years to come.

[Chihoe Ho · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the seemingly universal love for Pax, I feel like I'll be left out to the coyotes with the rating I'm giving it. I was left underwhelmed by the book in general – it seemed to stall at very specific points, both in the plot and setting, and while it hit the sentimental notes of the bonds between man and furry friend, I was left wanting more of an emotional punch to the gut. The narrative voice which switched back and forth between Peter the boy and Pax the fox made for some compelling and challenging tone that forces the reader to be empathetic towards both perspectives, yet proves to be unnecessarily confusing and choppy.

What surprised me was how grownup the story felt with its themes of responsibility, sacrifice, post-traumatic stress, and learning to let go. No doubt will it become a new classic with an accompanying film (animated, please) in years to come because of its cross-generational messages.

[sAmAnE · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب روباهی به نام پکس،حکایت دوستی عمیق بین پسربچه‌ای به نام پیتر با روباهی به نام پکس است. پدر پیتر عازم جنگ میشه و اونها مجبور می‌شوند که روباه رو وسط جاده رها کنند و به خانه‌ی پدربزرگ پیتر بروند که پیتر اونجا بمونه.از لحظه‌ای که پیتر پکس رو توی جنگل رها میکنه، آسایش نداره و مدام فکرهای عجیب و غریب اذیتش میکنه. پیتر حسابی به روباهش وابسته‌ست و پکس هم همینطور ولی جنگ عاملی است که هر دو ازش به عنوان عامل جدایی یاد می‌کنند. داستان کتاب به طور موازی از زبان پیتر و پکس بیان میشه. به نظرم قدرت تخیل و خلاقیت نویسنده عامل مهمی در آفرینش این داستان برای گروه سنی ۱۰یا ۱۲ سال به بالا بوده. کتابی که میتونه حس عمیق دوست داشتن، منتظر بودن، تلاش کردن، امیدوار بودن و در نهایت جدایی و رهاشدگی را به بچه‌ها یاد بدهد. اگر به کتاب‌های مخصوص نوجوانان علاقه دارید خوندن این کتاب رو از دست ندید😊🦊
#روباهی_به_نام_پکس #سارا_پنی_پکر

[Claude's Bookzone · Rating 3 out of 5]

CW: Peter's mother died, animals attacking each other and being injured

Well that ending was too abrupt!

I needed more closure on the following questions:
What happened to Vola? How can a fox survive in the wilderness after having a leg bitten off? What happened to the relationship with the father? Why didn't he get the foxes and relocate them to Vola's property?

Aside from that it was a lovely story about found family.

[Zahra naeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

وُولا سرش را بالا گرفت و بلند قهقه زد:" اوه، بذار یه چیزی بهت بگم. احساسات، همه شون خطرناک هستند. عشق، امید،...! امید! فکر میکنی چون خطرناک هستن میتونی ازشون فرار کنی؟ نه، نمیتونی از هیچ کدومشون فرار کنی. همه ما یه دیو توی وجودمون داریم به اسم خشم. ولی اتفاقا اون میتونه بهمون کمک کنه؛ خیلی وقتا اگه از چیزهای بد خشمگین بشی، چیزهای خوب به وجود میاد. میشه با خشم، چیزهای غیرعادلانه رو به عادلانه تبدیل کرد اما اول باید بفهمیم که چطوری درست فکر کنیم."

[stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Qué historia más preciosa! Estoy más que satisfecha con ella. Me han gustado los puntos de vista tanto de Pax como de Peter, pero sentí que me llegaba mucho el personaje de Vola. Es un libro especial, que te hace sentir una calidez profunda. Denle una oportunidad, no los va a decepcionar.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Based on a reading of an ARC


Let's make 2016, the year of the fox.

I really like the book, it actually reminded me of Pixar’s animations which cater to young and old.

We don’t know the time or place where this story takes place and that seems to be intentional since war affects us all, human and non-humans no matter the age, sex or which part of the world they reside. The concept itself is not new, but it’s beautifully written and uses the parallel narratives of a 12 years-old boy name Peter and his pet fox, Pax. The main human characters (Peter and Vola) are complex, fighting their own personal demons but those things elevate the book from simple story for children to older readers. Pax, himself grows in his own way left in the wild. I do like that the females play vital roles in both Peter and Pax's growth and healing process.

Some scenes are graphic which will make animal lovers cringe, but I like that the author was brutally honest in the effects of war. My only complaint is that the ending was rather abrupt, realistic but abrupt. Mind you I did tear up but it could have been better written to give the closure it deserved.

I do look forward to the illustrations which were missing in the ARC and I plan to purchase one to add to my collection.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being an individual that is rather fond of foxes, I was excited but also apprehensive about reading this book. It was again, initially the beautifully illustrated cover, that attracted me to this book. And throughout the book, there are more of these gorgeous illustrations for us to feast our eyes on.
The story didn't disappoint. It was a story about a boy and his fox. The boy and his fox( Pax) were then split up, and we then experience the journeys that they face, in order to be reunited again. You can't help but love Pax. He is brave, fierce and fearless, and he has so much love for his boy. My favourite character is Vola, though. If anyone has read the book, they'll know why.
The relationship that develops between the boy and Vola is well written. I found it poignant and totally believable.

The issue I had with this beautiful book, was the ending. It wasn't what I expected, and it kind of threw me off, as well as disappointing me. Apart from that, this was a charming read.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read in a long, long time. I'll write a review once I finish putting my heart back together. Hoo boy.

REVIEW:
Wild and tame, war and peace, anger and love--Pax is a beautiful meditation, almost fable-like, on these interconnected themes. No word is wasted or wanting in the luminous tale of Peter and his fox, Pax and and their converging journeys. Pennypacker masterfully creates emotions that are palpable, like the tension of the father’s simmering anger or Peter’s overwhelming surges of love for those he has lost. Pennypacker hits the mark in giving Pax a voice, portraying his believably complex inner life with the perfect amount of pathos. This is a story that will break your heart open and rebuild it again, much like a phoenix rising out of the flames--a bright, beautiful, breathtaking rumination on our humanity and our brutality.