A huge thank you to 5th grade teacher Colby Sharp for introducing me to PAX earlier this summer. I usually pick up animal books only because I know young readers enjoy them and I want to be able to share ideas with my college students headed into their own classrooms. PAX book #1 is not just any animal story. Pax and his human friend Peter touched my heart. Now PAX, JOURNEY HOME continues Sara Pennypacker's second adventure with the pair.
Book #2 picks up with Pax living in the wild with his mate Bristol and their three kits. Peter has been living with Vola, even building his own small hideaway near her cabin. Now he has decided to join the Water Warriors as a junior volunteer. The war is over and the Warriors are traveling across the area to repair and reclaim contaminated water sights. Peter sees this as his chance to leave Vola and return to the home he and his father left behind before the war.
Pennypacker uses alternating chapters to highlight the adventures of Pax and Peter. Pax is learning the role of mate and parent as he navigates the wild searching for shelter, food, and protection from less friendly humans. Little does he know the water in places like the mill pond could be dangerous, especially to his young kits.
Peter is determined to get to his old home and live on his own. Working with a couple of Water Warriors as they travel from one water source to another, he gains precious knowledge and a better understanding of what it means to depend on one another, and that doing so doesn't mean giving up one's own control. Hoping to find Pax along the way motivates Peter to keeping heading to the place he last saw his own father before losing him to the war. Facing the truth about the man he wasn't always close to and searching for the fox he still loves, makes for emotional moments that bring Peter into even sharper focus for readers.
If you haven't discovered PAX and PAX, JOURNEY HOME, I highly recommend a trip to the library or bookstore. They are books you won't soon forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment