Mister Max: The Book of Kings -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for 

a few minutes. Even you.” 

~ Annie Lamott ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Stephanie Gayle did an interesting guest post on The Writer’s Dig that outlines seven fatal flaws that will tell you your novel isn’t ready to submit. You can find it HERE. Number four is one I really need to watch for. 

Mary Blount Christian has a terrific post on Keeping Viewpoint Straight HERE. She always has very good advice for writers.  

Janice Hardy at Fiction University has a great post HERE on creating more depth in your story. 

With the holidays upon us and with my move finally starting to move (we closed on our new house last week a month later than we had hoped to and will now start renovations), don't be too surprised if the occasional week goes by without a post. Just saying'.

Last week I promised an ARC of The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy to one of you. This weeks winner is Mimadocken. Congratulations, Mima! Thanks for spreading the word on FaceBook and getting an extra entry. It paid off for you. I will get the book out to you this week. Stay tuned, everyone. I have another giveaway this week.

Cynthia Voigt has written plenty of books for teens and tweens and middle graders. I have enjoyed all I have read. Her latest series is the Mister Max books and I have read and enjoyed two of the three books in the series. I reviewed the first book in the series a couple years ago. You can read that review HERE if you like.Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review of the third book, Mister Max: The Book of Kings.

Max has been on his own since his parents disappeared a few months earlier. Max kept himself busy with his business as a Solutioneer, finding solutions for client’s problems. Now he receives coded messages with buttons attached that seem to be from his father. Max finds out his parents, well-known stage actors, are living as king and queen of a small South American country, Andesia. Max can only believe they are there against their will, and he needs to rescue them. He comes up with a plan to take an embassy to Andesia, but first he must convince the king of his own country, whom he has never met, to help.

“His thirteenth birthday had been not-celebrated in the Estrella’s large first-class dining room. There had been no candles on no cake, no wrapped packages, and no singing of the traditional birthday song.”

This final book in the Mister Max trilogy by Cynthia Voight is a satisfying

Cynthia Voigt

conclusion for all questions raised in the three books. The characters are interesting and well-rounded, the story has lots of adventure and excitement, and this will be a very gratifying read for those who have read the earlier two books, but as a stand-alone, it makes some assumptions of prior knowledge. The more mature and patient of middle-grade readers will be the audience for this somewhat overly-long, detailed story.

I have an ARC of this book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.