The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Pennypacker, Sara. Pax, Journey Home. Balzer + Bray, September 7, 2021. Kindle.

In the children’s novel Pax, Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker, Peter believed it was safest for him to withdraw from society and never love again because he had lost both of his parents and his pet fox. As an excuse to return to his hometown, he joined the Water Warriors, a group dedicated to cleaning the water contaminated during the war. There, Peter was challenged by an old friend to step beyond his fears and care again.

When Peter was 13-years-old, he was living with Vola, a family friend. He received word his father had been killed in the war. Vola offered to put part of her land in Peter’s name so he would always know he had a home, but the idea of home scared him. He pushed Vola away and joined the Water Warriors because they would be working to decontaminate the river near the town where he had lived with his mother and father. He secretly planned to go back to his old house and live there alone. Peter believed being alone was the only way to keep from being hurt.

Peter teamed up with two older members of the warriors, Samuel and Jade. The couple told Peter they had seen a pair of foxes and their kits drinking from a reservoir that had recently been decontaminated. Peter believed their description sounded like Pax, the fox that had once been his pet, and the vixen he had last seen with Pax.

Peter shared some of his story with Samuel and Jade. He told them his father had been killed in the war. Peter had last talked to his father at the old mill site near the river where they would be working. It was also in those woods where Peter’s father had forced him to set Pax free. Jade warned Peter that even though he believed separating himself from others would keep him safe from being hurt, there were cracks in his heart through which someone would sneak in without him even being aware.

Meanwhile, Pax and his daughter kit, who sneaked along with him on his journey without permission, are looking for a new place for the family to live. The Deserted Farm on which they have been living provided protection, but the young animals they depended on for food were dying. Unknown to Pax, these young animals were being poisoned by the heavy metals dumped in the water as a result of the war. While on their journey, Pax’s kit became ill from drinking the contaminated water.

Peter went alone to the mill site where he attempted to deal with his grief. At his house, he piled all of the mementos of his old life in the yard and set fire to them. Unexpectedly, one day as he was at the mill site, he saw Pax. Pax did not come to him, and Peter thought that he might have been mistaken. Perhaps, it was not Pax. The following day, however, Pax was waiting for Peter in the same place. The two began meeting each day. Peter noticed Pax always left suddenly. He was unaware that Pax was returning to his daughter when he sensed she was awake from her morning nap.

One day, Peter found a jar of peanut butter to take to Pax. At their meeting spot, he saw instead a fox kit who had crept to the river to drink. Knowing the water was poisoned, Peter threw the jar at the kit to keep her from drinking. Pax ran from the underbrush and grabbed the kit making Peter understand the kit was his. Even though Peter’s action seemed aggressive, Pax sensed Peter was trying to warn him about something.

Later, Pax was aware that his kit was becoming sicker and sicker. He feared she would not survive the journey back to her family. He took her to Peter and placed her at Peter’s feet. Peter understood Pax wanted him to care for the kit. At the same time, Peter remembered his father had warned him when he found Pax as a kit that Peter would have been better to euthanize the fox. Peter decided that he would take the kit with him to his mother’s grave where he would spread his father’s ashes. He would then kill the kit and bury her there.

At the grave, Peter aimed his father’s shotgun at the kit, but he could not make himself pull the trigger. When the kit mewed as Pax had as a kit, Peter became physically ill at the thought of what he had almost done. He knew that even though killing the kit might have been the right thing for his father to do, it was not the right thing for him to do.

Peter returned to Vola after finishing his stint with the Water Warriors. He asked if her offer of a place to live still stood. He introduced her to the fox kit, who had been tamed through her exposure to the other Water Warriors. Peter had named her Sliver because she had sneaked into his heart through a crack without him even being aware.