Pax, Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker, Jon Klassen (Illustrator); 2021. Hardcover. (Ch-FIC)

From bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker comes the long-awaited sequel to Pax; this is a gorgeously crafted, utterly compelling novel about chosen families and the healing power of love. It's been a year since Peter and his pet fox, Pax, have seen each other. Once inseparable, they now lead very different lives. Pax and his mate, Bristle, have welcomed a litter of kits they must protect in a dangerous world. Meanwhile Peter--newly orphaned after the war, wracked with guilt and loneliness--leaves his adopted home with Vola to join the Water Warriors, a group of people determined to heal the land from the scars of the war. When one of Pax's kits falls desperately ill, he turns to the one human he knows he can trust. And no matter how hard Peter tries to harden his broken heart, love keeps finding a way in. Now both boy and fox find themselves on journeys toward home, healing--and each other, once again.