MAX

By Bob Graham
Publisher: Candlewick
ISBN: 0-7636-1138-7

KATE’S TAKE: A fun take on what it truly means to be a superhero.

FROM THE FLAP: As the son of legendary heroes Captain Lightning and Madam Thunderbolt, Max is destined to be a superhero one day too—that is, once he learns to fly. But despite his parents’ valiant coaching and encouragement, Max can’t seem to get off the ground. Will Max ever learn to leap tall buildings in a single bound? Or will he be doomed forever to life on land?
Bob Graham has created a book for anyone who knows the highs—and lows—of learning to do something for the first time.

BEAUTIFUL BIRDS Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Ask students to draw a picture of something that they want to learn how to do on the white side of a piece of origami paper. Then, fold this piece of a paper into a bird shape. Make a mobile with the class birds. http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-twirling-bird.html

BIRDS IN A BUSH MATH Logical/Mathematical
Give each student a mat with a green circle on it. The circle represents the bush. Then, give each student ten manipulatives. Ask students to place the manipulatives on the bush. Next, ask students to remove a certain number of birds from the bush. Write the subtraction algorithm on the board and ask students to copy the problem down on their white boards.

CARTOON SEQUENCING Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Fold a piece of 8 x 11 paper into six rectangles. Leave one square blank. Write one of these five sentences in each of the blank squares: 1) Max is born, 2) Max walks and talks, 3) Max can’t fly, 4) Max goes to school, 5) Max flies and saves the bird. Give each student a copy of the paper and ask them to cut out the five rectangles and sequence them. Then ask students to illustrate each scene.

HEROIC DEEDS CLASS BOOK Verbal/Linguistic and Visual/Spatial
Give each student an 8x11 piece of paper with this sentence starter, “I did something heroic when ________________________________________________________________________________.”
Have them write a kind, small, deed they did that helped someone. Ask them to illustrate their sentence and bind the papers into a class book.

MAGIC CARPET COOPERATIVE RACE Interpersonal and Kinesthetic
Divide the class into teams of four kids. Give each team three large squares of cardboard. Set up a start and a finish line. Each team has to use their magic carpets to “fly” from the start to the finish. Everyone must always be on a magic carpet square, or their team will return to the starting line.

BOOK BUDDIES
-Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
-Mighty Max by Harriet Ziefert
-The Featherless Chicken by Chih-Yuan Chen
-The Lion and the Mouse by Gail Herman
-Tiger on a Tree by Anushka Ravishankar