While I enjoyed this book, I wanted to enjoy it so much more. I had heard many rave about it's strong messages about peace and war and loss. Those messages were certainly there, and I think this was the strongest point of Pax. These rave reviewers also said the relationship between Pax and Peter literally brought them to tears. I wanted to feel these things, and I did - a little bit. But not as much as I was expecting. I found the middle of the book to drag a bit as Peter was stuck at Vola's and Pax was figuring out how to be a fox. I also tired quickly of Vola's mysterious and "wise" quotes, which felt very cliched. The end also killed me - I understand that both boy and fox found themselves through their separation, but it was such an abrupt end. Especially concerning the boy's father. 
 In the end though, I really was rooting for Peter and Pax, and I would definitely recommend this to kids 6th grade and up (there are some slightly graphic scenes as the foxes hop through mine-riddled fields and Peter treks through the forest). I could see middle-grade kids feeling the feelings I, as an adult, wanted to feel on a stronger level.