Arthur Salm

Nice to read a story with both parents present, loving, and competent. Nobody here is going through serious trauma. But Max does have a way of feeling that everything that happens to him is a melodrama... like every other young teen, whether or not they live in privileged circumstances. Reminds me a tiny bit of Diary of a Wimpy Kid but has much more heart, more depth & meaning, and fewer pictures & more words.

Nice touch that there are doodles, too: each chapter number is hand-drawn differently than every other. The footnotes are distracting to me, an experienced reader, as they interrupted the flow. But after awhile I got used to them, and there were fewer, so it was ok. Ditto the middle-school voice of the narrator. I think reluctant readers and fans of graphic novels will appreciate both the creative format and the character & his adventures. Heck I did: I feel like it's a 3.5 star book but I can't help but give it the full four because it was just so much fun and Max & the others enchanted me.

I wish I had marked specific passages or examples to share with you, but it's so short, I just recommend you read it yourself.… (meer)