War separates a

THE separation of kids from their pets is a familiar theme in children’s literature. You might have read Sheila Burnford’s classic story The Incredible Journey or the more recent A Dog’s Way Home by Bobbie Pyron.

Sara Pennypacker, author of the Summer of the Gypsy Moths, explores that idea in her latest novel, Pax. What sets this book apart is a second theme that’s not often talked about in kids books: the effects of war.

“I think the most unfair thing about war... is that children seem to suffer the most,” Pennypacker said from Florida, where she lives in the winter.

Pennypacker said she had wanted to explore that idea for a while, but she couldn’t figure out how to handle such a heavy issue in a kids’ book.

At the same time, she was thinking of writing about the bond between kids and their pets. Owning a pet exposes kids to feelings of not only love and loyalty but also empathy, or sensitivity to what their pet is going through.

“By age 12, I think they think a lot about what goes on with their pets,” she said.

Those ideas came together in the story of Peter, a 12-year-old who lives with his father and a pet fox named Pax. The fox is just a few weeks old when his mother is killed and his littermates die. Peter finds him and brings him home.

The fox becomes the closest companion to the boy, whose mother died when he was 7 and whose father is always either silent or angry. From the start of the story, however, boy and pet are being torn apart. War is coming.

“It means sacrifices for everybody,” Peter’s father tells him. “I have to serve – it’s my duty. And you have to go away.”

Peter must travel 500km to live with his grandfather. But first, his father insists he return the tamed fox to the wild. The boy reluctantly follows the order but soon regrets

DEEPER MEANING: Sara Pennypa about the effects of war in her ne