Introducing...Max
Rosey Mayes, Steven Mayes
Hardcover
(PublishAmerica, May 28, 2010)
Max came to me a long time ago as an idea for a book for kids. However, he did not first appear as an adventurous little dickens. He kind of grew into that as the result of a conversation with my husband one evening while we were getting ready for bed. In the excitement of discussing the book, he blurted out, "Max could go on other trips, you know?" I responded with, "Yeah, like to a farm or a zoo." With that little conversation, Max became an adventurer. My mind really started to race then. Sleep took a little longer to find me that night. Thus came the idea for a series of Max adventures.I decided that because the Introducing...Max book was a rhyming book, the rest of the books in the series should be also. It has been a challenge to be able to continue to make an adventurous book rhyme all the way through, but it is my belief that children have a special ability to listen and grasp what they are hearing if they can hear words that sound alike. Also, when they are reading to themselves or a younger sibling, they will put their own emphasis in the story to make it sound like they are telling the story themselves, and meanwhile, they are learning to read at the same time. When I decided to put little hints to safety, manners, and other learning in each book, I wanted to have Max talk to the kids through their imagination, so I decided the best way to do that would be to add a page to the back of each book where Max talks to them and hints to the contents of the next book coming out, while letting them know what each book is trying to reinforce about what parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, and all other adults are trying to teach them as they are growing up. Max, with his adventures, wants all kids to have happy, healthy childhoods as they grow to adulthood.
L