What do you think?
Rate this book
Crack Up
Max Crack and his best friend Frankie are back with even more quest-ordinary adventures!Armed with a shiny new quest list , they are on a mission to find a meteorite, make a movie, solve a sisterly feud, eat truckloads of chocolate, set a World Record ...Read all about it!This is a specially formatted fixed-layout ebook that retains the look and feel of the print book.
232 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2020
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2020
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Max Crack and best friend Frankie Doink are back again with more quests, bigger and better than before.
Max starts a new journal/diary which runs from November to end of February. A four month period that includes the end of year school holidays which gives the boys plenty of time to complete new quests.
After seeing a shooting star and feeling a shudder like an earthquake the boys think it could have been a meteorite. Their first quest: find a meteorite.
At school their class will be involved in trying to break a world record. They will also be having a movie making competition.
I loved that the stories weren’t all about winning but working together and having fun.
The boys are eager to attend their first pop concert and find work mowing lawns for an elderly local resident who tells them of her falling out with her sister. Thus prompting their next quest: to reunite the sisters.
The boys take the ups and downs of life in their stride. Max eager for his own smart phone is happy to take his father’s hand-me-down and the rules that go with owning a phone.
We see the comparison of Frankie’s large rambunctious family to Max’s only child family. Both families are caring and interested in the boys activities.
As an adult I am keen for young children to read books with good role models and I think Max and Frankie have achieved this status. They have fun, are a little dorky, are respectful, don’t expect to be given the world, argue and make up, give everything their best effort and never complain.
I loved the second book even more than the first. The Quest Diaries of Max Crack
There are blank pages at the end to write your own quest list, favourite movies, world records you want to set, places you wish to explore and also a few pages to try your own sketches.
*I received my copy from the publisher
Max Crack and best friend Frankie Doink are back again with more quests, bigger and better than before.
Max starts a new journal/diary which runs from November to end of February. A four month period that includes the end of year school holidays which gives the boys plenty of time to complete new quests.
After seeing a shooting star and feeling a shudder like an earthquake the boys think it could have been a meteorite. Their first quest: find a meteorite.
At school their class will be involved in trying to break a world record. They will also be having a movie making competition.
I loved that the stories weren’t all about winning but working together and having fun.
The boys are eager to attend their first pop concert and find work mowing lawns for an elderly local resident who tells them of her falling out with her sister. Thus prompting their next quest: to reunite the sisters.
The boys take the ups and downs of life in their stride. Max eager for his own smart phone is happy to take his father’s hand-me-down and the rules that go with owning a phone.
We see the comparison of Frankie’s large rambunctious family to Max’s only child family. Both families are caring and interested in the boys activities.
As an adult I am keen for young children to read books with good role models and I think Max and Frankie have achieved this status. They have fun, are a little dorky, are respectful, don’t expect to be given the world, argue and make up, give everything their best effort and never complain.
I loved the second book even more than the first. The Quest Diaries of Max Crack
There are blank pages at the end to write your own quest list, favourite movies, world records you want to set, places you wish to explore and also a few pages to try your own sketches.
*I received my copy from the publisher
May 9, 2020
I think creating quests might have been the single best idea I have EVER HAD.Max Crack and Frankie Doink, our self-proclaimed “Masters of Quests”, are back in Max’s second quest diary. I enjoyed this diary even more than the first and it already feels like I’ve made two new friends. These kids are just so relatable!
If I’d been in Mrs F’s class with them I would have been jostling to get an invite to help them achieve their quests. If they didn’t let me join in on the fun I probably would have either competed against them or come up with my own adventures. Adult me has even started thinking about the types of quests I could be working on now.
There’s plenty of questing in this book to keep your imagination active. Max and Frankie try to find a meteorite, which could actually be a UFO (you never know!). They embark upon shooting “Thine Moving Picture Questeth the Second”, become Heroes of Science and attempt to get their names in the record books.
When they’re not busy questing, they’re perfecting their secret handshake, making good use of their ninja skills and freaking themselves out with their imaginations. They even have the opportunity to make “coin of the realm”.
We learn about mythological foot soldiers and cosmological archaeology, encounter a honking mad goose and experience Stalac-pop fatigue. We ponder the important things in life: whether aliens travel on meteorites, why the return trip always seems quicker than the trip there and the difficulty in getting grown-ups to commit. Max and Frankie may also be experiencing their first crushes, but don’t tell them I said that; I’m sure they’d deny it.
We heard about the Mistress of the Dark Arts in the first book but in this one we actually get to meet her and she’s my new favourite character. I absolutely love everything about her, from her interests to the way she speaks. I can’t wait to have an excuse to spend more time getting to know her.
In the Doink house, Frankie’s brothers have been in the spotlight. I would also like to get to know his sisters. I loved the inclusion of the new characters and hope they find their way into future diaries.
Books within a book I need in my life:
* Extreme Unknown Mysteries of the Mysterious Unknown Extremes
* Alien Invaders on Your Pizza.
Once again I had fun seeking out the variations of well known names. I chuckled when I read about Playbox games, but my absolute favourite was when the comic book creator, Stanley le’Stan, was mentioned.
I got to enjoy more of Frankie’s theories, like the Invisible City Theory and the one that puts forth a compelling argument for Santa’s alien origins.
While you could jump right into the series with this diary I’d recommend you read them in order. This one assumes you know about the quests Max and Frankie have already completed, so you’ll step in some spoilers for the first book along the way.
If anyone needs me I’ll be waiting for the next bridge accident to happen. I was intrigued but a bit hesitant when I began this series as I’ve previously only loved Jules Faber’s work as an illustrator but I’m hooked and can’t wait to see what quests Max and Frankie come up with next.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan Australia for introducing me to this fun new series.
Blog - https://schizanthusnerd.com
September 21, 2020
I took this one out hoping to read it to my five-year-old, but while she was still a bit young for it, I thought I'd have a read to see what it's like.
It's very sweet. After reading one of the Captain Underpants books and being very disappointed in some of the values portrayed, this was a lovely change. Aside from cool facts and even cooler quests, there are deeper things to explore: learning to handle conflict (even big adult ones), working together to achieve goals, and even... girls. But only a little, we're not sure about girls just yet!
I'll definitely revisit it (and check out the others) when my kiddo is a bit older. Highly recommend.
It's very sweet. After reading one of the Captain Underpants books and being very disappointed in some of the values portrayed, this was a lovely change. Aside from cool facts and even cooler quests, there are deeper things to explore: learning to handle conflict (even big adult ones), working together to achieve goals, and even... girls. But only a little, we're not sure about girls just yet!
I'll definitely revisit it (and check out the others) when my kiddo is a bit older. Highly recommend.
May 24, 2020
Crack Up continues Max Crack's quests in fine fashion. I love this throwback to the simpler times of when kids living in a small town. Max and Frankie have wonderful chemistry and Jules ensures that this book is scattered with plenty of comics, cartoons and other visuals to make this look like a genuine journal. Nice to see Jules have the reigns to the words and pictures in his own series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews