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Max Magic: the Sunday Times bestselling debut from Stephen Mulhern!

£3.995£7.99Clearance
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As someone who works in publishing, I am always interested to see how important messages are addressed, and how books look and feel. With magic running in the family, Max uses magic tricks to get by, using magic to try and stop the school bully and East End Gangsters the Crayfish twins causing trouble for his fathers market stall. Luckily for Max, anything is possible but he'll need his friends and a pinch of magic to get the bullies off his back this time around! I think it could have been written without mentioning either and then I'd feel happier giving it to my 9 year old daughter to read.

A fun read for both children and adults and would make a great read aloud story for sharing with a group.I think any younger would need it to be read to them and enjoyment would be dependent on their level of understanding. Max loves magic, it runs in the family, and from the very first time that his dad showed him how to do a trick, he has been learning, practising and performing.

Max Magic follows a boy named Max who loves magic and impressing all his family and friends with his tricks but he has some bullies who aren't so impressed both at school and at his dads market stall so he decides he needs to work out how to get them off his back.

His tricks don’t always work, but he is committed to getting better and becoming the most famous magician ever. In fact magic seems to be landing Max in more trouble all the time, as his latest escapades have led to his Dad being in danger of losing his market stall which would be a disaster for the whole family. This is probably tailored more to school children but regardless me and my little sister loved this book!

What follows is a magical adventure where Max, his friends and his dog, Lucky, create the greatest plan to get the money and save Max's dad's stall. The larger text size within was an interesting change and then to learn it was to make the book dyslexia friendly was a great idea. A real strength of the story is that a child is encouraged to believe that problems can be overcome, particularly when you have the support of a loving family and good friends .

I also think a younger reader will benefit from reading it because it is written in a childlike manner from the viewpoint of a child dealing with bullying and following their dream.

It could end up being a useful teaching tool to explore these topics with your children as Max faces and deals with all these various issues throughout the course of the book. I would note that guns and knives do get a very brief mention, and that's what's keeping a star off for me. What I feel slightly less sure about is how many will appreciate the use of Cockney rhyming slang, especially if this is the first time they’ve come across it, so this reinforces my belief that the story will probably be best appreciated if an adult is on hand to explain it more clearly. Stephen Mulhern is one of the most in-demand television presenters today, with a string of smash-hit television shows including Catchphrase, In For a Penny and Rolling In It. Max’s family are lovable characters that I am sure many readers will recognise from their own siblings and/or parents and grandparents.Now his dad is having to pay a large sum of money to the twins, or he will lose his stall, and Max feels like it's all his fault. It came across as though this is going to be the start of a series of novels so will be interesting to see when any future books come out – certainly a good first start. There's some nice messages in here, and it highlights the importance of family, friends and having good morals etc. But sadly he is still a victim of bullying and disaster strikes when one day watching his father's toy stall the local bully Bottley causes trouble.

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