Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | J FICTION MOS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | PB J FICTION MOS | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
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Summary
Summary
Welcome to Max's secret collection of inventions, comic strips, and random thoughts about school, family breakups, and the power of Alien Eraser.
Pimply older brothers. Good parents who get into bad fi ghts. Lucky for Max, he has a place to jot down his mixed-up thoughts and brilliant ideas. In a quirky mix of comics, concoctions, and contraptions, Max tells the
story of his topsy-turvy life - and how he tries to hold it and himself all Together.
Author Notes
Marissa Moss began as an illustrator of children's books. She is the author and illustrator of the Amelia series. She has written and illustrated more than 20 children's books including Amelia's Notebook, which was named a 1997 American Booksellers Association Pick of the Lists book. Her other books include Regina's Big Mistake and Knick Knack Paddywack.
My Notebook (with Help from Amelia) also won the 2000 Parent Council Outstanding Award Informational and Oh Boy, Amelia! won the 2001 Parent's Guide to Children's Media Award and the 2002 Children's Choice Award.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-These eye-catching transitional readers pack a lot into each slim volume: comics, humor, common childhood problems, science experiments, history, science fiction, and more. Flip-flopping between a comic and notebook format, the narratives follow the everyday life of an elementary school student and the supposedly real comic adventures of an alien eraser that claims to have taken over his brain. The alien's plan is to inspire Max to draw comics about his "glorious deeds," which include such feats as building the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Besides having his brain controlled by an alien, Max has an assortment of other things to deal with: a moody teenage brother, a boring teacher who confiscates his favorite belongings, and parents who have recently separated. He expresses and illustrates these everyday troubles with humorous, colorful drawings and diagrams of imaginative inventions, such as the "referee robot," designed to control fighting parents; and the "Book-to-Brain Zapper," which translates books into one's own words, creating a "report [that] miraculously writes itself with NO spelling mistakes." These books are full of fun, facts, and adventures that are sure to capture the interest of both reluctant and avid readers.-Melinda Piehler, Sawgrass Elementary School, Sunrise, FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Launching the Max Disaster series, Moss (the Amelia's Notebook series) again narrates through a journal, but this time with a decidedly male POV. Max, who plans to be a scientist like his parents, starts a notebook to record his inventions and sketch cartoons, including the exploits of an alien pencil-top eraser. Max's mishmash includes stories about his schooldays, cartoons, minicomics, asides and experiments (readers will learn how to make "Godzilla puffs" by microwaving marshmallows). But weaving together this funny, kid-savvy montage is the story of Max's parents' separation. Raw emotion is leavened by humor: Max worries, "If you take apart a family, can you put it back together in a way that makes sense?" and at one point he sketches a trio of "Happy-Marriages-R-Us Robots," one of which features a "last-resort tranquilizer dart, strong enough to put ten elephants to sleep (or one raging parent)." Moss is a master at verbalizing kids' anxieties and channeling their astute observations of family life-both as it breaks apart and begins to mend. Also out: Max Disaster #2: Alien Eraser Unravels the Mystery of the Pyramids. Ages 8-12. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
Fans of Moss's Amelia series (or more likely fans' brothers) will enjoy these stories about Max, an aspiring scientist and inventor who's dealing with the separation of his parents. Max and his best friend create a comic book about alien erasers, reproduced on the pages alongside other cartoon drawings, Max's sketches, and scientific experiments. An entertaining choice for intermediate-level readers. [Review covers these titles: Alien Eraser to the Rescue and Alien Eraser Unravels the Mystery of the Pyramids.] (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
In these retooled versions of Max's Logbook (2003) and Max's Mystical Logbook (2004), Moss discards the graph-paper backgrounds, expands the role of a small green pencil-topper that is (at least in the young narrator's mind) a visitor from space with telepathic powers and remixes lightly revised text and art. In the setup episode Max draws comics, lays out simple science demonstrations ("Experiment #1: What happens when you microwave a marshmallow?") and turns a bucket full of pencil erasers into action figures by drawing faces on themall while watching and fretting about his parents' separation. Max Disaster #2: Alien Eraser Unravels the Mystery of the Pyramids (ISBN: 978-0-7656-3385-5; paper: 978-0-7636-4408-6) features more of the same as he and his best buddy Omar work on a school project offering "proof" that aliens built the Egyptian pyramids. Max's narrative being thickly interspersed with small color illustrations and neatly lettered captions, comments and dialogue balloons, even novice chapter-book readers will have no trouble following alongand could well catch Max's interests in science, or at least eraser decoration to boot. (Fiction. 8-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
