Film rights were acquired by Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (announced in March 2016).

Chinese:  彼得與他的寶貝Pax [Bide yu ta de bao bei Pax], ill. Jon Klassen, trans.  黃筱茵[Xiaoyin Huang], 臺北市 [Taibei Shi]: 小麥田出版 [Xiao mai tian chu ban], 2017.

Czech: Pax: můj liščí přítel, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Eva Kadlecová, Brno: CPress, 2017.

Dutch: Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Suzanne Braam, Tiel: Aerial Media Company, 2016.

English Braille: Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, New York: Balzer + Bray, 2016.

French: Pax et le petit soldat, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Faustina Fiore, Paris: Gallimard jeunesse, 2017.

German: Mein Freund Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Birgitt Kollmann, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer SAUERLÄNDER, 2017.

Hebrew: בלתי נפרדים [Bilti nifradim], ill. Jon Klassen, trans. דורית בריל-פולק [Dorit Brill-Polak], בן שמן [Ben Shemen]: בן שמן [Modan] 2017.

Italian: Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Paolo Maria Bonona, Milano: Rizzoli, 2017. 

Japanese: キツネのパックス : 愛をさがして [Kitsune no Pakkusu: ai o sagashite], ill. Jon Klassen, trans. 佐藤見果夢 [Satō Mikamu], 東京 [Tōkyō]: 評論社 [Hyōronsha], 2018.

Korean: 팍스 [Pax], ill. Jon Klassen, trans. 김선회 오밈 [Sŏn-hŭi Kim], 파주 [P'aju-si]: Arte (아르테) [Pugishibil Arte], 2017.

Polish: Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Dorota Dziewońska, Kraków: Wydawnictwo IUVI, 2016. 

Portuguese: Pax, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Regiane Winarski, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Intrínseca Ltda., 2016.

Russian: Пакс [Paks], ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Nataliâ Kaloshina i Evgeniâ Kanishcheva, Moskva: Samokat, 2018.

Spanish: Pax: una historia de paz y amistad, ill. Jon Klassen, trans. Ricard Gil Giner, Barcelona: Nube de Tinta, 2016.

The story is about young boy Peter and his beloved pet–a fox named Pax. When war breaks out and friends have to separate, so Peter – convinced by his father, who was called up for military service – leaves Pax far away from home, in the middle of nowhere. The boy, however, can not come to terms with such a drastic parting and runs away from his new home – he wants to find the fox at all costs. Similarly, Pax, though lost and confused at first, decides to find a friend. Construction of the novel is very interesting, because the author tries to presents the events through Pax’s eyes: every chapter focused on Peter is followed by one told from Pax’s perspective. The only visible classical motif is the fox’s name – Pax (in Latin: peace); however, the story is an extended meditation on the nature of peace, and the nature of war: Peter loses his father for some time and the journey through the wilderness and mountains to find the fox is very dangerous as the front line moves every day. Animals are also the victims of war: abandoned in the forest, Pax meets other foxes with which he travels around the country and sees how the barbed wire is set and the mines are laid. The reader is kept in suspense until the very end, and the final happy meeting of friends is far from a happy end.

Peter himself explains that Pax was named after the backpack brand Paxton, because one day he found the inside the backpack ("I was seven then, and I figured, ‘Paxton,’ that’s a good name. It had an X in it, like ‘fox,’ you know?"). Besides his explanation the boy is aware – because many people told him so – that "pax" means "peace", though there is no information about the language of origin (Latin). The meaningful name may be interpreted in many ways. First, Peter searches for Pax as for a state of peace in the horrifying time of war. It is important that the war not only  affects its main actors (humans), but also animals, including Pax and other foxes he meets on his way. Second, when Peter finally finds Pax after a long journey he is a different person, he changed a lot and at the end he made peace with himself, making crucial decisions considering not only him, but also his beloved pet.

Pennypacker’s novel is also an original approach towards homecoming stories, like the classical one – Homer’s Odyssey. A separation forced by war is hard to accept and homecoming in this context may be interpreted not as finding a geographical goal, but rather psychological and emotional stability in a friend, human (Peter) or animal (Pax). In the context of classical journey myths I propose another interpretation rooted in ancient culture, although it is neither mentioned in the text – a mythical story of the Teumessian fox (Alopex Teumessius, Τευμησ(σ)ία ἀλώπηξ / ἀλώπηξ τῆς Τευμησσοῦ). According to ancient mythographers, i.a. Pseudo-Apollodorus (Apollod. 2.57), Amphitryon, stepfather of Heracles invited Creon, king of Thebes, to join him in a campaign against Teleboans. Creon agreed to do so, if first Amphitryon would free the Thebes of a local fox, who was threatening the land. It was fated that no one would tame this fox, so the task was not easy and Thebans once a month would sacrifice one of the citizen's children, for otherwise the fox would have seized many of them. Amphitryon went to Cephalus at Athens, and persuaded him to bring to the fox-hunt the dog (Laelaps), because it was fated that this dog would catch whatever it chased. Consequently, when the fox was chased by the dog, Zeus turned them both to stone, as a resolution to a paradox of fate: one would never be caught and the other would catch whatever it chased. In the Pennypacker’s Pax this paradox is revised, because both the fox and the boy try to find each other, but at the end they decide that it would be better to separate and live on their own.

A Special Message from Sara Pennypacker on Pax (video), available at findpax.com(accessed July 23, 2018).

Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, trans. Keith Aldrich, Lawrence, Kansas: Colorado Press, 1975.

Teumessian Fox (Alopex Teumesios), available at www.theoi.com (accessed July 23, 2018).

Why I wrote Pax? A letter by Sara Pennypacker, available at assetlibrary.supadu.com (accessed July 23, 2018).

Discussion guide for the novel, available at sarapennypacker.com (accessed: July 23, 2018).

Pax classroom kit, available at assetlibrary.supadu.com (accessed: July 23, 2018).