New York: Balzer + Bray (Harper Collins), (2016) dj. Hardcover first edition - Long listed for the National Book Award, this book for middle grade children displays Pennypacker's "willingness to stretch her storytelling into increasingly complex narrative forms and her ability to tackle dark and weighty themes with sensitivity and respect for the child reader. Set in an intentionally undefined time and place that could very well be a near-future America, the novel opens with a heartbreaking scene of a tame red fox, Pax, being abandoned at the side of the road by his beloved boy, Peter. Perspectives alternate between the boy and the fox, and readers learn that a terrible war rages in this land. Peter's father is about to leave for the frontlines, and while he's away, Peter must live with his grandfather out in the country - and there is no place for Pax in Peter's temporary home. Almost as soon as he arrives at his grandfather's, Peter is overcome with guilt, and he sets off under the cover of darkness to trek the 300 miles back to his home, where he prays he'll find Pax. The loyal fox, meanwhile, must figure out how to survive in the wild, in a world in the grip of violence and destruction." (School Library Journal) Illustrated by Caldecott medalist Jon Klassen. 276 pp. ISBN: 978-0062377012.