Max’s Math

Illustrated by Boris Kulikov Published March 10, 2015

Max and his two brothers hop into a car and go looking for problems they can solve. They cruise down highway number 4 on their way to Shapeville, but they see an abandoned number along the way. Is it a 6? Is it a 9? And what’s it doing on the side of the road? Once the trio reach Shapeville, there’s another problem: a flood washed away all of the squares. Max and his brothers show the town that putting together two triangles will bring their shapes back together, and then they follow the residents on a trip to Count Town, where they put the missing number back in its place in the countdown to a rocket’s blastoff.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly (STARRED)

Kulikov's visual flights of fancy will set readers' imaginations soaring as Banks slyly introduces a bevy of math concepts.

School Library Journal

In the fourth story about Max and his two brothers, numbers and shapes take center stage instead of words....Kulikov's illustrations add much to the story and invite counting and simple problem solving while also demonstrating that shapes can be combined or divided to make other shapes. Max's car is pristine white, creating negative space, thus continuing the math theme, and the mayors of both towns resemble Albert Einstein and reflect the towns' names. Shapes and numbers are hidden throughout the brightly colored illustrations, offering seek-and-find games: on a cow, in the configuration of a road, a clockface. In order to get to sleep after his exciting day, Max counts sheep while lying under his patchwork quilt made up of various shapes. Young children will enjoy the familiar characters and the fact that the youngest of the three brothers is again their leader.

Kirkus

Max is back in the fourth in his eponymous series of concept books . . . Kulikov's rich, textured paintings are filled with details that extend the story and invite young mathematicians to stop and examine Max's fantastic world . . . Bold. MAXimum fun!