Mallory Vs. Max

Mallory McDonald #3

by Laurie B. Friedman

Spunky, eight-year-old Mallory McDonald is very unhappy when her parents decide to get her older brother Max a dog. Why would her parents agree to such a thing? Dogs are smelly and bark and chew on things. Plus, they already have a perfectly good cat, Cheeseburger. When they finally get the puppy, it’s worse than Mallory imagined. Everyone loves Champ and he and Max are getting all of the attention. Poor Mallory―now everyone’s mad at her. What should she do?

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Family, Juvenile

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Laurie Friedman is the author and ghostwriter of over 300 award-winning picture books, easy readers, chapter books, and novels for young readers including the bestselling Mallory McDonald series, the Moose the Dog easy reader series, the Camp Creepy Lake and Wendy & Willow chapter books, and may picture books including Cows in the House and Love, Ruby Valentine.

Reviews

[Karen Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why am I reviewing a book I read as a nine-year-old? I'm not sure. But what I am sure about is that this is one of my favourites in the series. :)

[Katt Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mallory's brother Max is getting a puppy and Mallory is being unreasonable about the whole thing. She can't seem to wrap her head around change and once again is struggling in a very big way with this adjustment. How she comes to eventually like the dog at all seems like something of a miracle. Mallory really has a hard time in these books. I wonder if she'll ever grow out of this?

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

cute

[Erin Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW this book was awesome

[Marcela Hernandez]

Explain the star rating you gave it from 1- 10 I will give the book 9 because it was really understandable and I really have an idea of what was happening during the time I read the book.
The most interesting or engaging parts of the book to you, and why. It was when the took Champ to the school. Or when the sister of Max was jealous because his brother was going to have a dog.
You can include moral dilemmas that were interesting to you, internal struggles, or injustices that caused you to reflect on life’s major questions.
How does this book relate to your Hero’s Journey? For learning how to don't be jealous from my siblings and knowing how to be like a good sibling, and learning how to show to little kids to do not fight with their siblings.
How did this book change you as a reader? It doesn't change me in anyway.
Who you would recommend it to and why? no I will not recommend this book to anyone.

[Enyang L · Rating 5 out of 5]

i haven't finish the book but all the Mallory's book is very fun and very funny so i very like the book by this author and this styes book like mallory in move,back to school mallory and this one.

[Emma Halters · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was quite cool!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! Mallory is a lovable character, And I will be getting more of this book series! I love how it all works out in the end. This book has a good lesson as well.

[Luna]

I wnt to read it

[Naisha Jhunjhunwala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book about how Mallory was feeling left out when Max got a dog but see what happens to Mallory's tune. Great read for readers aged 8-12.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mallory was a real brat in this book. I did slightly feel for her, but only because Joey was spending less time with her.

[Kryssy · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5**

Page graphics: cheeseburger the cat and champ the dog

I read this as an audio ebook which was interesting. This isn’t a hard book at all but it helped to get through it while working or driving. I only had to look during the slightly too long quiet parts to see the pictures

Maybe it’s that i’m a grown adult reading these again but mallory seemed extra spoiled in this book. She thought only her feelings mattered and everyone else didn’t care about her because they were focused on max

Overall, mallory finally realized that her parents are balancing their time. She didn’t realize that max probably felt abandoned when she got cheeseburger. Good to see she finally came around

It was just really hard to continue because of mallory’s whining. Have to bump it down a little

- Max is getting a dog and seems to take all the family’s attention
- Starts a club SABGD and writes 10 reasons not to get a dog
- Dad is not worried about any of the reasons and even has explanations. But he has thought about cheeseburger
- Mallory tries to delay going to the pet store by looking through scrapbooks
- Max wants to bring joey along as an expert consultant
- Pet store didn’t have a dog that max vibed with. Worker tries to convince him to get a pig or a cat
- Invited mary ann to pick out the dog at the farm. Upset that she actually wants to see the puppies
- Can’t believe mom might punish her because of her attitude and not helping with the dog
- Doesn’t want to the dog yet feels she gets to be in charge of all decisions about the dog. Like the name
- Joey leads a family obedience training
- Max wants to bring champ to school. The vet gives very easy rules to follow
- Mallory waits for max to bring champ to her classroom. Everyone is asking questions about him but max answers before mallory gets the chance to
- Mallory doesn’t follow any of the rules even after joey reminds her. Champ ends up going potty on the floor inside
- Fight after school and mallory forgot to close the back door…
- champ is found snuggling with cheeseburger
- Mallory finally understands that she isn’t being forgotten. The same thing happened when she got cheeseburger. She just didn’t realize it
- Mallory made a scrapbook for max about champ like she has of cheeseburger

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rating this a 4, but that's a 4 in terms of this type of book, meaning "easy-to-read, informal language, kid-point-of-view book", not a 4 as in books all around (e.g., I rated a lot of the Little House and Harry Potter books a 4, but a '4' for those books doesn't mean it's the equivalent of others I've rated a 4. I rate books relative to other books of the same genre/target audience of the book.)

Anyway, this book is from the point of view of an 8 year old girl, with a 10 year old brother. Hm, how fitting for us! E picked this up at the library and read it all in one day. She said 'Wow, this author really understands how an 8 year old girl feels!' So, given that comment, I decided to find out what exactly I'm missing about my OWN 8 year old's thoughts, since she also mentioned that she often thinks the same things as Mallory.

*Spoiler alert*

Reading the book, I can totally see and hear E in all of Mallory's thoughts, actions, and dialogue. Everything from the shouts of 'THAT'S NOT FAIR!', to the feeling of being left out because the parents are paying more attention to her brother, to the 'I'm going to stay in my room FOREVER!', to the 'I'm just going to do something foolish to PROVE that I don't need someone to tell me how to do something, because I'm mad about something else' attitude. It was quite insightful to read, actually!

So after all the pouting and complaining (and yes, there's a lot of that for most of the beginning/middle of the book), I loved that in the end, she learns to change her attitude, and discovers that getting along with her brother is quite nice, even if it is very hard to do. The book follows her through many 'injustices' to forgiveness and the softening of her heart and acknowledgement that a new attitude really does make a difference. I hope E also has learned a few things while reading this. It's a great book to talk about sibling rivalry.

This is the first book of the series that we've read, even though it's not the first book in the series. We're going to go back and look for others from this series, and I hope they are as uplifting as this one.

[Krista Guillen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review 02-05-2016
Krista Guillen
“Mallory vs Max”


I give this book 4 stars because even when the book it’s very short it has a lot of learnings, like sometimes you might not be happy being with your brother/sister, because they are annoying, talks too loud and sometimes embarrassed you. But I promise you that if your brother/sister goes away for awhile, you will miss him/her as much as I missed my brother when he went to his camp.

I really can relate to this book because I have a lot of argument with my brother but at the end we always end up making up. So in the book Mallory didn’t agree about something Max was getting, so she had a very bad attitude but then her best friend told her that she needed to change her tune, and when she did, everything turned out very well.

I would really recommend this book who sometimes dislike their siblings, but again couldn’t live without them. I kind of think this book is a realistic one because everyone has gone through that. But I honestly think that instead of arguing and fighting they should have DISCUSSED IT.

Thanks for Reading.

(Spanish Part)

A este libro yo le doy un 4 porque aunque sea muy corto tiene un gran significado, por ejemplo hay veces que no te cae bien tu hermano/ hermana, porque son molestos, hablan muy alto y a veces te avergüenzan. Pero te prometo que si tu hermano/hermana se va por algún tiempo, lo extrañaría como cuanto yo extrañe a mi hermano cuando se fue de campamento.

Yo puedo relacionarme con este libro porque yo me peleo mucho con mi hermano pero al final siempre terminamos haciendo la pazes. Entonces en el libro Mallory no estaba de acuerdo que a Max le dieran algo, entonces ella tenía una pésima actitud pero sí mejor amiga le dijo que si cambiaba de actitud todo iba a ser mejor y así fue.

Yo recomiendo este libro a las personas que tiene problemas con sus hermanos seguido,te ayuda a recapacitar que son tus hermanos y que al final no podes vivir sin ellos. Yo creo que este libro es maso menos realista porque quién no a estado en la situación que se pelea con su hermano? Pero si soy honesta yo creo que en vez de pelear pudieron discutir.

[Willow The · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaitlyn W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently I have finished reading Mollory vs Max by Laurie B. Freedmon. This is about a little girl named mallory who is very concered about her brother max getting a dog. Mallory is very upset because she feels like max will get to much or all of the attention insead of her and her kitty cheeseburger. When I first picked up this book it immedietly caught my attention because of how the author described the characters personallities and how they react to certain actions throughout this book. I can relate to Mallory in situations like she is in because sometimes I feel like my brother is getting all the attention but when really that is not the case, and I am just was seems to be imagining it. I really enjoyed reading this book and loved to see what happend throughout the story. I would deffinitly give it 5 stars and will encourage many people to read it and love it just as much as I did.

[PSU · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mallory thinks getting a dog will change around the house.Mallory was right it did change around the house all they talk about is Max's dog and that he is cute,sweet,and awesome.Mallory and cheeseburger feel left out because they don't get some attencion anymore.Now they are starting dog school.Champ is Max's dog so they learned how to teach Champ to sit.Now Max wants to take camp to school and Mallory doesn't agree because she doesn't want anybody else to talk about Max's dog at school and at home for the rest of her life.I recommend this book to Leslie R. and Joselyn because this made me feel kind of with her {Mallory] andher brother Max.

[Ashanti]

I didn't think it was fare nice funny or anything else when Mallory didn't listen to what Dr.Alazarvs,Max and what Paul said she did the total opissite.And Paul told her repetedlly not to do that stuff and she did it anyway.He even asked her if she needed help.But the only reason why she did that was because she thouhgt he was bossing her around.And so they TALKED IT OUT by being PROBLOM SOLVERS.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

awsome book but simple book to read :)

[Makenna]

good

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mallorys brother max got a dog champ.
Mallory thinks everyone is only paying attention to champ.
including her very best friend mary ann.
I think all the books are kinda the same.

[erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I AGREE WITH MAX; i'm a dog person

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, sweet read.

[Savindi · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a true story about her and her brother you have to read it

[Sonofposeidon3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! LOL!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way cute series for 2nd / 3rd graders . I like as an adult too.

[Indah Threez Lestari · Rating 3 out of 5]

1087 - 2012

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that is part of a series about a brother and a sister and how they get along. This story forces Mallory to take a new look at things when her brother gets a dog.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this is my favorite one in the series!!!:)

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book connects to a lot of my sisterly problems with Jane, my sister.I was glad that in the end they both made up and became one HAPPY family.