Time Machine
Max and Ruby's Midas Misses the Point, February 1, 2005

Up until now I thought I liked all of Rosemary Wells' stories... but Midas is simply awful. Not only is some of the artwork gruesome, but the story fails to deliver anything close to the original message of how gold (or make-substitution-here) is not the end-all of life.

In Well's version, Ruby tells her little brother about an 'ancient' Max (Midas), who instead of turning everything into gold with a touch, turns everyone into dessert with his laser eyes. Mom is zapped. Dad is zapped, and there is no sign of regret until sister is changed into a slice of cake. Then, without explanation, there is a sudden change of heart. (I guess one can only conclude that it was okay to zap mom and dad but not sis.)

The text is not the only problem though. The pictures of Max and his blood-red eyes are strange. Supposedly laser light, the emanations stream down in arches, not in straight lines. It looks more like Max is leaking blood from his eyes. Yeech.

Can't recommend it. ( )

In Max and Ruby's Midas Rosemary Wells incorporates her twist of greek mythology to warn younger kids about the overabundance of anything. In this story, Max is eating too many cupcakes, so his sitter Ruby tells him a bedtime story about a prince named Midas who also ate lots of sweets. In the end, Max STILL eats the cupcake so I am not sure if he really learned anything from the story. Children can learn from this story that too much of anything is a bad thing. Although Max did not heed the warning, other children can. ( )

Ruby finds Max trying to sneak two cupcakes so she tells him the story of Midas. Midas was a young boy who hated vegetables and fruit and wished he could turn them into sweets. One day he does just that however his mom, dad, and sister get in the way and are also turned into sweets. By the end Midas wishes for his family back and when it is time for tea they have a sweet for desert Midas wishes for it to turn into broccoli. This is a funny story with a lesson to be learned from it that too much of a good thing is bad. ( )

Ruby tries to stop her younger brother Max from eating so many sweets by reading him an altered version of the story of King Midas. ( )

Max keeps eating cupcakes. Ruby tells him the story of Midas who used his laser vision to turn healthy food into sweets. Unfortunately, he also turned his family into sweets as well! Too many sweets can be a bad thing.