Bravo, Max!

Max

by Sally Grindley

Dear D.J.,
We saw my uncle Derek in a play at Christmas. He was so funny, Mum had tears rolling down her cheeks. Now I want to write a really funny play to make her laugh some more. Please, will you help me?
Love from Max

And so continues Max's funny correspondence with his favorite author, D.J. Lucas. As Max reveals his secrets and worries, a story about love, sharing, and growing up begins to emerge. Bravo, Max! will have fans cheering for Max all over again!

Genres: Writing, Family, Realistic Fiction, Friendship, British Literature, Childrens

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 8, 2005

About the author

I came into children's books originally as Editorial Director of a nationwide children's book club, though I had written and directed a children's play while a student at Sussex University, which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. I wrote my first two children's picture books in 1984 and was lucky enough that Anthony Browne wanted to illustrate the second - Knock Knock Who's There? It was published in 1985, is still going strong today and is one of my most successful.

Shhh! was published in 1991 and has known great success in France/Belgium in particular (close on 300,000 copies sold). It's success in the UK - it won the Children's Book Award - was hampered by the liquidation of its original publisher.

I became a full-time author in 1995 and now have some 150+ titles published, the most recent being L'Histoire du Soir in France, Belgium and Italy.

Feather Wars, published in 2003, was my first sortie into young fiction and was followed by the very successful Spilled Water, which has been published in some ten different languages and is very popular in schools as a class reader. It won the Nestle Smarties Gold Award (and I wound up being a 'Pointless' answer on the back of it!) Broken Glass came next and was a Sunday Times Book of the Week.

I'm currently working on picture books again and have plans to illustrate one of my own in the not too distant future - watch this space!

Reviews

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grindley, S. (2007). Bravo, Max! New York, New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Max is a ten-year-old kid who writes letters very frequently to his favorite author, D.J. He writes to her about his family and school life, and she writes back to him giving advice, consolation, and news about her author world. The main adults in Max’s life are his mother (who is widowed), his Uncle Derek and Aunt Pauline, and his school friends Ben and Emily. His Uncle Derek tries to get Max’s mother out of the house, so he starts inviting her to theatre group meetings, where she meets one of his friends, James. They begin dating, and Max doesn’t like it. He doesn’t like James because he feels like his mother won’t love him the same way, and also, he doesn’t like being babysat by Mrs. Burrows. Max has nicknames for all the people that he dislikes. Max is busy with writing his own play, and the characters mirror the important people in his life and how he would like them to live out their lives. The author D.J. gives sage advice about how to deal with things, telling Max to be brave and “chin up.” Max begins to soften towards James when James asks him if he’d like to be in his play.

This is a cute story about a kid getting over his mom dating. It’s a tough issue that is not addressed in a lot of books, and this was one lighthearted, though touching look at how one person dealt with it. Max might be a kid who might serve as a role model for real kids, kids whose parents are single, maybe widowed, but are dating. It can be a difficult adjustment for kids to share their parent with someone new. But it can be possible with fiction to show that sometimes it’s not as bad as it seems.

Genre: fiction

Reading level/interest level: tweens

Similar books/materials: The Popularity Papers because of the multiple narrative perspectives, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Reader’s advisory notes:

i. personal thoughts: cute story line; I wish Max wasn’t so tortured by his babysitter or his mother’s boyfriend. I’m glad that he got over it- maybe it was just tween angst.

ii. subjects/themes: single parent, widowed parent, writing.

iii. awards:

iv. series information:

v. character names/description: Max, 10 years old, has a widowed mother, likes to do puzzles, write plays, very protective of his mother; Max’s mother, starts going out to a theatre group meet up, meets someone new, dates him; Mrs. Burrows, the babysitter who watches over Max, means well, but Max doesn’t like her much; James, Max’s mother’s boyfriend, invites Max to play a part.

vi. annotation: Life is just fine with Max and his mother. Why do things have to change?

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable tween read, with a gentle touch. It deals with a trying time for a 10 year old boy whose father has recently died and whose mother is starting to see another man. It's written in letter format, which moves the story along at a nice trot and leaves enough unsaid to keep you filling in the gaps.

It's also a great teaching resource, and totally inspires to write a classroom play! If I were 10 years old and my grade 4 or 5 teacher read this out aloud to my class, I'd be bursting to write a play!

[Tiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great sequel to 'Bravo, Max.' The entire book is written in correspondence from Max to his favorite author, just like the previous book. In each book, Max is faced with a personal/family problem and the author helps him figure things out. In this second book, the problem was Max's mother started dating someone. I think kids can relate to Max, his problems, and his humorous way of looking at things. I highly recommend this for beginner readers.

[Aisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the beginning I read this book for my little brothers, but because they aren't a good listeners I decided to complete it by my self. I really liked and enjoyed this book, and I wish they could read it by themselves one day because they'll find it funny. :)

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel to Dear Max is just as funny and delightful. In this book, Max continues writing to his favorite author, D.J. Lucas, and gets advice about writing a play and how to deal with friendships and family changes, like his mom dating. Dear Max and Bravo Max are great reads!

[Ranim Ayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

الكتاب حلو اوي : ) ماكس الطفل اللي ممكن احلم يكون ابني .. عجبني فكرة الرسائل بين طفل وكاتبة مشهورة .. وعجبني ان كل مشاكل ماكس كانت بتظهر أن في شخصيات المسرحية .. عجبني ردود الكاتبة .. كتاب يخليك تتمني تبقي ماكس وبتبعت للكاتبة وبتعمل مسرحيات عظيمة او تبقي الكاتبة وتشجع كفل صغير انه ميخفش وانه يكتب

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great follow-up to the first book....Dear Max. This book continues the correspondence between pen-pals as Max's favorite children's author helps him write a play.

[Cws]

JAR5-Gri

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the letter format of the book!

[Sparklesfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

about max writing so much letters to someone

[Taio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it

[Amira · Rating 5 out of 5]

although um not usualy into children's books I really loved this book,its very creative and fun to read

[pati · Rating 2 out of 5]

Max writes again. This time he is trying to deal with lots of growing boy issues and manages to get through with a little help from his friends.

[Some One · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm actually 13 so I'm not really spouse to read this book but it is a way to get away from every thing!! It's a good novel

[Joud Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

its most likely to send messages to ur friends if u were out of his/her country