The Many Faces of Max
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
by: Reviewed by Kacy Vega

Section: Children's Book Reviews


November 2012

Reviewed by Kacy Vega, Leaps and Bounds Coordinator, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. Kacy is also a contributor for Raising Kids Arizona. Read it!

Meet Max, a tender and fun pup who identifies with several emotions. From hurt to happy to hungry, each mood of Max is represented on a double-page spread. Illustrations are childlike and somewhat primitive but the paint-on-canvas look, with its seemingly touchable texture, might appeal to the young audience for which the book is intended. Each page of text leads in English with the equivalent in Spanish printed neatly beneath. To establish a distinction between English and Spanish, three centered hearts sweetly separate the two languages. This book is simplistic and does not offer a definitive story. However, it can serve as springboard for encouraging and showing little ones how to put words to feelings, and the pages of text, each printed on a different colored background, can be a tool for helping children build color identification skills. Ultimately the book’s windfall lies in the reality that dogs are usually, if not always, a winning subject matter among the preschool crowd. Recommended.
The Many Faces of Max. Katherine Del Monte. Illus. by Susan Arena. Los Angeles, CA: Lectura Books, 2012. 21pp. $8.95 (Paperback). ISBN: 978-1-60448-025-2. Grades Early Preschool-Kindergarten. Bilingual English & Spanish.


Post a Comment

Name
Email
Comment