Pax

‘A book I love’ -When I came across this topic, I went straight to my bookshelf and started rummaging through it. I am quite a collector of books that intrigue me or make me smile. I have many books on Art, children’s books, and novels which really touch my heart. I have many favorites too! Life of Pi, What’s in a Name, the Harry Potter series and so many more.

But out of all of them, I think the book I really gravitated towards the most was one called ‘Pax’. ‘Pax’ was a book about a child’s pet fox. The child finds a baby fox at a very young age and the fox becomes his best friend. But as the fox grows up, he was to be taken back to the forest so he can get back to his natural home.

Once the child sends the fox into the wild, he has sleepless nights. He gets worried about ‘Pax the fox’ and sneaks his way back to the forest to see if he can find Pax and bring him back home again. Unfortunately, after a long search, he is not able to find Pax and ends up encountering a woman (of about 40 years) in the midst of the forest. The woman was part of the military in her early years and due to the unpleasantries she experienced, she fled from the city and made her home in the forest. The woman is intrigued as to why a young boy is alone in such a dangerous forest. The boy then tells her his story and the entire book then revolves around the lovely relationship between the boy and the woman, how they learn from each other, and the life of Pax on the side, as he makes his way through the wild and mingles with his clan.

The story moves on to describe how ‘Pax’ slowly gets welcomed into the ‘fox clan’ of the forest and starts finding a sense of belonging. The child learns about letting go from the woman he encounters and the woman finally gets the guts to step out of the forest and into the real world to become a teacher, with the help of the child.

By the end of the book, the boy does end up finding Pax, only to see him comfortable with his own clan. The boy learns to let go and the woman finally steps out of the forest and into the city, to find her belonging once again.

I found the illustrations very comforting and apt for the mood of the story. The author, Pennypacker has a way of understanding the deepest of emotions when it comes to the bonding between humans and animals. I did get a few more books of hers, some being short stories for children. She has a way of keeping things simple, deep yet filled with clarity with her writing.

To know more about the author of ‘Pax’: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/82275-q-a-with-sara-pennypacker.html

The author of this post, Divya Ramachandran is an Artist, Writer, and Educator. She has Masters in Design from Milan and teaches Art to kids during the week. She works on creative projects during her free time and loves collaborating with different artists.

You can get in touch with her at rama.divya@gmail.com or follow her on Instagram @purple_ponderings.