The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt

I was immediately transported to this masterfully created land where Max’s parents are then kidnapped at embarkation and he is left to fend for himself. So, when they receive a mysterious invitation from an Indian Maharajah to journey by sea and then help him establish a theatrical company of his own, the promise of such an exotic adventure is hard to resist. The Starlings, founders of the Starling Theatrical Company, earn a comfortable living, but excitement is more or less vicarious.

It’s in Old Town where we meet twelve-year-old Max (a lad with unusually colored eyes) and his parents Mary and William Starling in their cozy dining room circa early 1900s, perhaps in the Edwardian era. The port city where all the action (and there’s plenty of that) takes place comprises Old Town and New Town (there’s a map included in the beginning). Kids will also note that the time period is never mentioned nor is the type of currency which leaves lots open for interpretation and imagination. This first Mister Max installment takes readers to a country never named, but that sounds a lot like England. They certainly help ground the reader in the time period. However the rough sketches I saw looked exactly how I’d pictured certain scenes and I liked what Bruno chose to detail for every illustration. There are at least seven illustrations by Iacopo Bruno scattered throughout the novel, but since I read an ARC (advanced readers’ copy), the final artwork was still to come. There are 25 chapters with curious titles such as Chapter 4 “In which Max doesn’t want to get out of bed, Grammie is bossy, and Madame Olenka enters the scene” to lure readers into the story. Mister Max (Book 1 in a trilogy) is middle grade fiction at its most entertaining. Knopf Books for Young Readers, $16.99, ages 8-12) is reviewed today by Ronna Mandel.

Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things by Newbery medalist Cynthia Voigt (Alfred A.

The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt