Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Blog Tour Review & Giveaway of Max At Night by Ed Vere

Review, Giveaway, Max At Night, Ed Vere, Bea's Book Nook
Series: Max
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: September 1st, 2016 
Challenges: I Love Picture Books
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | iTunes* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

This is Max. Max is very sleepy. It's way past Max's bedtime. Max has drunk his milk. Max has brushed his teeth. Max has cleaned behind his ears. Now Max just needs to say goodnight...

Max is tired and all ready for bed, but when he can't find the moon to say goodnight to, he sets out to find it. But that's not as easy as Max had hoped...

Witty and heart-warming, this stylish and beautifully illustrated book is the perfect bedtime read.

My Thoughts:

"Max at Night" reminded me a bit of "Happy Birthday, Moon" by Frank Asch. Both stories have a young animal character trying to talk to the moon and follow the moon. Both are sweet and a little silly, both have sparse artwork. They veer off from there, with "Max at Night" specifically being a bedtime story.

Max is a young kitten trying to prolong going to bed. In scenes reminiscent of "Goodnight Moon" by Margaret Wise Brown, he goes around saying goodnight to objects around the house and even to the moon outside. When the moon doesn't respond to Max, Max decides to go hunting for the moon We follow along as Max ventures out of house, into possibly dangerous territory, in search of the moon.

Max is brave, determined, adventurous, and a little foolish. Children will relate to that and to his desire to prolong going to sleep. The kids in my class laughed as we read the book and ask for it to be read at circle time. Being the (mostly) responsible adult that I am, I couldn't help but wonder where the adults in Max's life were but the children didn't even seem to notice. The story dragged a bit during Max's search for the moon but otherwise the pacing worked and both children and adults enjoyed the humor in the story. The artwork is minimalistic, with the emphasis on Max and his adventures; there's not a lot of detail but what there is both adds humor and moves the story along.

"Max at Night" is a gentle, sweet and humorous bedtime story that toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy.

For more fun with Max, check out these links: 

Max at Night landing page: http://books.sourcebooks.com/maxatnight/
Find Ed Vere Online:
Twitter: @ed_vere
Bea's Book Nook, Review, Giveaway, Max At Night, Ed Vere
Enter for a chance to win an original sketch by author and illustrator Ed Vere and a copy of Max at Night! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

5 comments:

  1. Favorite bedtime story is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds sweet and I can definitely relate to a small child who is trying to put off going to sleep!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I enjoy hearing from my readers. Let's talk!