Pax p. 206-276

Hello again and welcome to your final week of Pax book club.

For 276 pages we have followed the separation and reunion of Peter and Pax. This story has a lovely full circle moment. By that I mean that the book starts the way it begins, with Peter and Pax separating once more, this time on their own terms. It’s a neat little way to conclude a story, but it also gives us a chance to reflect back on how much has happened since the first time they parted in the woods. Doesn’t it feel like forever since Peter was in his room grandfather’s house?

Running throughout this book have been parallel narratives.

Parallel storylines – also called parallel narratives or parallel plots – are story structures where the writer incorporates two or more separate stories. They’re usually linked by a common character, event, or theme.

In this case we have two characters finding their way back to each other. This helps us observe how similar and how different their stories become. If you are interested in learning a little more about how to structure a parallel narrative, check out this helpful link.

Another theme running through this book is the concept of give and take. Bristle helps Pax, and Pax helps Bristle. Vola helps peter and Peter helps Vola. The fact that every character can offer another a perspective, a lesson, and a way to grow further connects to the idea of connectivity we spoke about last week. All in all, this has been a touching and illuminating book and I wholeheartedly hope you’ve enjoyed it.

This week we begin with some provoking discussion questions. Then on to an activity on the illustrations of Pax, and finally a creative prompt on how we can use dialogue to develop characters. I hope you enjoy!