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MAX

Name: MAX
Author: Bob Graham
ISBN: 0-7636-1138-7

by Bob Graham & illustrated by Bob Graham ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2000

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No one will accuse Graham (Benny, 1999, etc.) of excessive subtlety in this story of meeting life’s challenges when you are good and ready. Young Max is the son of superheroes Captain Lightning and Madam Thunderbolt and he is the grandson of superannuated superheroes. He, too, is destined for the superhero life—he even sports a cape and mask—but Max is short a card in the superhero deck: he can’t fly. His parents school him in the arts of hovering and swooping and hurtling; his grandfather notes challengingly that, “when I was his age, I got into trouble for leaving fingerprints on the ceiling lamp.” He gets teased at school for his decidedly un-superpowers. Still, Max remains firmly grounded, not willfully, but simply, because. Soon thereafter, Max witnesses a young bird being nudged from the nest. “This bird was not ready to fly.” Fortunately, another one is: Max flies to the baby bird’s rescue. From there it’s just an arm stroke to the jet stream. For good measure, Graham tosses in this comment from one of Max’s school chums: “Everyone’s different in some way, aren’t they?” These blatancies almost reduce the book to a cliché, though not quite. The rest of the text has a tender quality that can’t be overlooked, and the artwork alone—cartoony watercolors of saturated color, broken into numerous panels—will keep young eyes wholly absorbed. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000

ISBN: 0-7636-1138-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CONCRETE GARDEN
by Bob Graham ; illustrated by Bob Graham

- BOOK REVIEW
JIGSAW
by Bob Graham ; illustrated by Bob Graham

- BOOK REVIEW
MAXINE
by Bob Graham ; illustrated by Bob Graham

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WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES, MR. BROWN?

by Justin Rhodes ; illustrated by Heather Dickinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 14, 2023

Pedestrian.

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Mr. Brown can’t help with farm chores because his shoes are missing—a common occurrence in his household and likely in many readers’ as well.

Children will be delighted that the titular Mr. Brown is in fact a child. After Mr. Brown looks in his closet and sorts through his other family members’ shoes with no luck, his father and his siblings help him search the farm. Eventually—after colorful pages that enable readers to spot footwear hiding—the family gives up on their hunt, and Mr. Brown asks to be carried around for the chores. He rides on his father’s shoulders as Papa gets his work done, as seen on a double-page spread of vignettes. The resolution is more of a lesson for the adult readers than for children, a saccharine moment where father and son express their joy that the missing shoes gave them the opportunity for togetherness—with advice for other parents to appreciate those fleeting moments themselves. Though the art is bright and cheerful, taking advantage of the setting, it occasionally is misaligned with the text (for example, the text states that Mr. Brown is wearing his favorite green shirt while the illustration is of a shirt with wide stripes of white and teal blue, which could confuse readers at the point where they’re trying to figure out which family member is Mr. Brown). The family is light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Pedestrian. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 14, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-5460-0389-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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BUNNY MONEY

From the Max & Ruby series

by Rosemary Wells & illustrated by Rosemary Wells ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1997

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In the siblings' latest adventure, their grandmother is having a birthday (again! see Bunny Cakes, p. 67), so Ruby takes Max shopping. A music box with skating ballerinas is Ruby's idea of the perfect present; Max favors a set of plastic vampire teeth. Ruby's $15 goes fast, and somehow, most of it is spent on Max. The music box of Ruby's dreams costs $100, so she settles for musical earrings instead. There isn't even a dollar left for the bus, so Max digs out his lucky quarter and phones Grandma, who drives them home—happily wearing her new earrings and vampire teeth. As ever, Wells's sympathies are with the underdog: Max, in one-word sentences, out-maneuvers his officious sister once again. Most six- year-olds will be able to do the mental subtraction necessary to keep track of Ruby's money, and Wells helps by illustrating the wallet and its dwindling contents at the bottom of each page where a transaction occurs. Younger children may need to follow the author's suggestion and have an adult photocopy the ``bunny money'' on the endpapers, so they can count it out. Either way, the book is a great adjunct to primary-grade math lessons. (Picture book. 4-7)