Martha recommends Pax, by Sara Pennypacker, a book targeted at children but in which adults will find much to admire and mull over. In preparing the book, Pennypacker spent a great deal of time studying the behavior of foxes. Martha shares a particularly perfect passage. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “”Pax” by Sara Pennypacker”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette, and I have a book I want to recommend to you.
Okay.
It’s called Pax. That’s P-A-X, like the Latin word for peace, Pax.
It’s by Sarah Pennypacker, and it’s spent about a year on the New York Times bestseller list, and with good reason.
It’s been described as a worthy successor to the children’s classic Charlotte’s Web.
It’s written for about 8 to 12-year-olds, but adults will also find it keenly observed and deeply moving.
I certainly did.
It’s a story about a boy who raises a pet fox from the time it’s very young, and then he has to let the fox go.
And they have such a bond that the boy eventually goes in search of this fox, and that’s what the story is about.
And a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to lead a discussion with the author, Sarah Pennypacker, when she spoke at California State University San Marcos, just north of here.
And one of the things that she told the students there was how much time she spent observing fox behavior and talking to experts, biologists who study foxes, and how they communicate.
And it’s one of the things I really love about that book, because all that research pays off, even in the first paragraph, which I wanted to read to you.
The fox felt the car slow before the boy did, as he felt everything first.
Through the pads of his paws, along his spine, in the sensitive whiskers at his wrists.
By the vibrations, he learned also that the road had grown coarser.
He stretched up from his boy’s lap and sniffed at the threads of scent leaking in through the window, which told him they were now traveling into woodlands.
The sharp odors of pine, wood, bark, cones, and needles slivered through the air like blades.
But beneath that, the fox recognized softer clover and wild garlic and ferns, and also a hundred things he had never encountered before, but that smelled green and urgent.
And it’s such a great beginning to this.
That’s the first paragraph of the book.
The first paragraph, and the boy is in the car holding this fox that he’s raised since the fox was tiny, and he has to let it go.
So it’s got that Charlotte’s Web depth and heft to it, but it’s a fantastic—
And she keeps it up?
All throughout.
She set a pace for herself that must be hard to keep up.
Yes.
What’s really cool is that it’s told from two points of view, the boys and the foxes.
And, you know, at first I was thinking, can you really tell a story from a fox’s point of view?
But it’s just gorgeous.
That’s great.
I will recommend this to my son if he hasn’t read it already.
Oh, I think Guthrie would love it.
And I’ll read it myself.
Okay.
So that’s Pax, P-A-X, by Sarah Pennypacker.
Right.
Thank you for a great book recommendation, Martha.
You’re welcome.
We love to talk about language on this show, including book recommendations.
If there’s something you’ve read that you’d like us to share with the rest of the world, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or spread your excitement and email to words@waywordradio.org.
