Max Speed

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a black boy with a big imagination!Max has finished cleaning his room so he can now play, and play he does! One vibrant, colorful spread after another depicts him pretending to zoom around in his car, ascend with his jet pack, descend with a parachute, and more. At every turn he confronts a menace (a river of hot lava or shark-infested water, for example) and exclaims "Great gadzooks!" The refrain "Had Max met his match?" is tailor-made for storytime fun, as Max, of course, emerges triumphant and never meets his match. Oh, but wait: at book's end Max's mother, also black, appears and prompts another round of room cleaning: "Max had met his match." But Mom is a softie, and she helps him with the cleanup. It's refreshing to see a parent and child of color in a contemporary, playful picture book, and the winning, vibrant digital illustrations add much to the humorous text. The combination delivers a picture book sure to speed its way to school, library, and home bookshelves, where it will surely demand repeat readings. Great gadzooks! This book is a winner. (Picture book. 3-6) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-Max, a black boy, employs his active imagination and race car bed in a high-stakes adventure through his bedroom. Punctuating the text with bold digital artwork and relying on an eye-popping font, Shaskan uses space well, and his design invites children to bring their own toy cars to race alongside Max's as he avoids imaginary lava rivers and shark-infested waters. The mix of high design and old-fashioned slang, like Max's catchphrase "great gadzooks," gives this modern speedster a retro feel. The crux of this story is whether Max has met his match after encountering seemingly impossible obstacles. This is a complex concept for most young children and requires more contextual clues than what is provided here in words or illustrations. For example, when Max falls from the sky because of a malfunctioning jet pack, readers are asked, "Had Max met his match?" There is no physical opponent, since Max is up against gravity, and no answer is offered. Max beats gravity by saving himself with a parachute. Later on, when Max is battling a shark, it is easier for children to see who "the match" is because the opponent is physical. Most of the target audience will struggle with understanding the premise of this tale, although fans of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are will readily delight in discovering the similarities between the titles. VERDICT An additional selection for libraries seeking books on imaginative play.-Rachel Zuffa, Racine Public Library, WI

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