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WORK TITLE: Max
WORK NOTES: translated by Penny Hueston
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 10/16/1958
WEBSITE:
CITY: Paris
STATE:
COUNTRY: France
NATIONALITY: French
https://us.macmillan.com/author/sarahcohenscali * https://www.ft.com/content/2ab7c882-4da2-11e6-8172-e39ecd3b86fc?mhq5j=e2 * https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Cohen-Scali
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 16, 1958.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author.
AWARDS:Prix Sorcières, 2013, for Max.
WRITINGS
Also author of Phobie, 2017. Contributor to anthologies, including Cadeau mortel pour Noël: douze histoires policières, Rageot (Paris, France), 2002.
SIDELIGHTS
Sarah Cohen-Scali has a list of young-adult titles stretching back more than two decades. The Parisian-based author’s works have appeared almost entirely in her native French; her first work to be translated into English is the young-adult novel Max. The novel tells the story of a young man raised in the Third Reich who is a significant part of the Lebensborn program, designed by Hitler to create a “pure Aryan” race of Germans. As he grows, the book’s protagonist Konrad (Max is his original name, given to him by the mother from whom he was taken at birth) is indoctrinated into Hitler’s racial pseudoscience. It is only when Max meets the Polish-born Lukas, who looks very much like him, befriends him, and learns Lukas is Jewish, that he begins to question his Nazi ideology. “Although he despises Max,” explained a Financial Times reviewer, “Lukas sees him primarily as a victim of indoctrination and abuse.” Max, stated Briana Shemroske in Booklist, is “a heartrending portrait of unlikely friendship and fierce defiance, and an impeccably researched glimpse into a deeply disturbing point in history.” “Readers are left with a horrifying question,” declared Laura Falli in School Library Journal: “Was Hitler’s goal of raising young people to ‘terrify the rest of the world’ attained?” “Max is a compelling and original story about an awful time in the world’s history,” a Pop.Edit.Lit reviewer concluded in an interview with the author. “I hope Sarah Cohen-Scali has piqued your interest enough to add it to your TBR list.”
Critics were very impressed with Max, although they were also somewhat taken aback by the frank way Cohen-Scali addressed racism and white-supremacist ideology. “For the most part,” assessed Deirdre F. Baker, writing in Horn Book, “Cohen-Scali portrays her product of ideological engineering as abrasive, arrogant, vulgar, and profane.” “The novel,” stated a Kirkus Reviews contributor, “endeavors to teach an important lesson about the indoctrination and exploitation of German youth.” “Throughout the narrative there is an emphasis on unpleasant and gruesome detail and extreme inhumanity,” wrote Gillian Lathey in the School Librarian, “with very few characters to evoke readers’ sympathies.” “Max is a story that has lingered with me longer after I finished reading the book,” wrote the Pop.Edit.Lit reviewer. “What does is mean to be good? Are we born good or bad? It is a story that left me breathless and contemplative about human nature.” “Like so many stories to which we are asked to bear witness,” declared Shira Schindel in a Jewish Book Council review, “this is not always a pleasant tale. It depicts childhoods filled to the brim with war.” “The true appeal of Max is incredibly hard to articulate to someone if they haven’t read it themselves first–which I do highly recommend,” asserted Louise Jones in the Cuckoo Review website. “The book progresses into an incredibly powerful and important piece of literature. Readers are sure to find themselves reacting very strongly to the subject matter.” Cohen-Scali’s novel, said Leanne Hall in a review on the Australian website Readings, “is highly original and moving in its depiction of both the bravery and resilience of children, and their ability to engage in acts of evil.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2017, Briana Shemroske, review of Max, p. 84.
Financial Times, July 22, 2016, review of Max.
Horn Book, January-February, 2017, Deirdre F. Baker, review of Max, p. 91.
Publishers Weekly, December 19, 2016, review of Max.
School Librarian, summer, 2016, Gillian Lathey, review of Max, p. 125.
School Library Journal, February, 2017, Laura Falli, review of Max, p. 100.
ONLINE
Cuckoo Review, http://review.cuckoowriters.com/ (June 28, 2016), Louise Jones, review of Max.
Jewish Book Council, https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/ (October 18, 2017), Shira Schindel, review of Max.
Pop.Edit.Lit, http://editingeverything.com/ (April 19, 2016), interview with Cohen-Scali.
Readings, https://www.readings.com.au/ (January 25, 2016), Leanne Hall, review of Max.
Sarah Cohen-Scali has written many novels and short stories for young readers. Her young adult novel Max, first published in France, has won several awards including the prestigious Prix Sorcières 2013. Max is her first book with Roaring Brook Press. Sarah lives in Paris with her family.
Sarah Cohen-Scali author interview
Max is a story that has lingered with me longer after I finished reading the book. What does is mean to be good? Are we born good or bad? It is a story that left me breathless and contemplative about human nature, and when the author Sarah Cohen-Scali agreed to an interview I was thrilled! She is an award-winning French author of over 20 novels for children and adults.
So, how does the idea for writing a story from the POV of a child born into the Third Reich already a believer? Read on to find out!
Did you always want to be a writer?
Not when I was young. My first passion when I was a teenager and a young adult was to become a theatre actress. But at school, I always loved to write. My French homework looked like little novels. I always loved literature and books. And then, at the age of 29, I began to write and publish. I never stopped. (Writing is a kind of drug you can’t quit.)
What inspired the premise for Max? Your book does explain your research, but I wondered what sparked the idea for the book?
An editor (not the one who published Max in the end) asked me to write a historical novel. I refused. I said l couldn’t, my historical culture was not big enough. Then he told me I could write about World War II. Oh! Much better, l thought, because I’ve always been fascinated by this incredible period. But there are already so many books, good, very good books on World War II, why would I add one more?
Then I remembered Lebensborn. No one knows about it. Very few people (journalists, writers) talk about Lebensborn. The first time I read myself this word was in Le choix de Sophie, by William Styron. Just a few sentences, a paragraph in this tremendous novel, when Sophie wants to save her boy in concentration camp and asks for him to be sent to a Lebensborn Home. She insists, tells them her boy has blond hair and blue eyes… So l began my research (which took three years) and once it was over, I asked myself: ‘Well, now what? What can I do with all this?’
I felt quite depressed, until the moment I decided to talk about Lebensborn from a German point of view, from the inside, from the very beginning. And then came the idea of a baby/Nazi/hero talking before his birth.
When I first began reading it, I couldn’t quite understand your dedication where you asked the reader to be sympathetic towards Max, but by the end, I thought I understood what you meant – did you doubt that Max would resonate with readers? What has your fan response been?
One thing which is quite important: Penny Huston (Senior Editor at Text Publishing) asked me to write a dedication. Here in France, we are not used to this. I was quite embarrassed and I was not sure the dedication was a good idea.
Anyway, yes, I doubted that Max would resonate with readers. While I was writing, I loved him, and that seemed quite normal because an author must love his characters, otherwise it’s impossible to write. But sometimes, I stopped writing, looked at the page on my computer’s screen, and I was thinking: ‘How come I love him so much? He is horrible, he is a little bastard!’
I was worried when the book was published. But as soon as I began to discover readers’ opinions on the Internet, I realized they were feeling exactly like me. It felt like a kind of victory.
A big part of the allure of Max (and Lukas) is that it’s somewhat optimistic – to me anyway. Despite all his indoctrination, something in Max holds him back from outing Lukas – it says to me that there is good in everyone, it’s up to each person to make the good triumph over the bad in them. Is that what you intended? What did you want Max to say about that part in history and humanity?
First, when I write, I don’t want to say anything particular. I only want to tell a story. A good one, with genuine heroes. I don’t have a purpose in mind like ‘sending a message’. I’m not a teacher; I’m not the mother of my future readers—the young ones. I’m just an author of fiction.
If, once they have finished the book, my readers continue to think about my story and the characters, if they have questions, then OK, that means they were touched. I’ve done my job.
Max is a horrible story, but it’s a true story, in many aspects. I’m not as optimistic as you. Is there good in everyone? I don’t know. I’m not sure.
Max has been indoctrinated—very young, as a baby—and in this way, he is a victim. Unfortunately we see, now, all over the world, how powerful indoctrination is, especially with young people. It’s insane and it’s cruel. How can we fight against that? Perhaps, for some of us, by writing, drawing…
Max could have grown up without doubts and become a horrible adult. What saves him is meeting Lukas. The capacity Max has to love him, despite the fact he is Jew.
From where Max begins in the book, to its end, how would you describe his journey to readers?
He opens his eyes.
The first scene, in the novel, is Max’s birth. But it’s a fake birth.
At the end, once the war is over, when he meets the UNRRA team, tells his story as Lukas told him to, there begins his real birth.
Max is a compelling and original story about an awful time in the world’s history. I hope Sarah Cohen-Scali has piqued your interest enough to add it to your TBR list.
Max
Briana Shemroske
113.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2017): p84.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
* Max. By Sarah Cohen-Scali. Mar. 2017.480p. Roaring Brook/Neal Porter, $19.99 (9781626720718). Gr. 10-12.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Initiated by Heinrich Himmler in 1933, the Lebensborn program incentivized candidates to conceive, birth, and turn over their children, the Jungmanner, to the German state. Born on April 20 (Hitler's birthday), 1936, in Steinhoring, with fair hair, blue eyes, and a "dolichocephalic" head, fictional protagonist Konrad von Kebnersol is the premier--product of Himmler's initiative. And after the departure of the doting mother who called him "Max," Nazi propaganda consumes Konrad entirely. At four, he's recruited to assist in kidnapping Aryan-appearing children in Poland, and by six, he's enlisted at Kalish, a correctional school for "stolen children." But when Konrad meets Lukas, a headstrong Jewish boy, the two form an unflappable bond that leads Konrad to doubt everything he once believed in. With its brazen cover art, unusual perspective (beginning with Konrad's first-person narrative, while still in utero), and occasionally obscene dialogue, this story, originally published in France--where it won the prestigious Prix Sorcieres--is no doubt provocative. But Cohen-Scali straddles the lines between poignant and profane, humorous and horrific with extraordinary poise and unmistakable panache. Peppered with Polish and German phrasing and appended with an informative author's note, Konrad's musings, as wide-eyed as they are wise, are staggeringly singular. A heartrending portrait of unlikely friendship and fierce defiance, and an impeccably researched glimpse into a deeply disturbing point in history. Unforgettable, bizarre, and brilliant. --Briana Shemroske
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Shemroske, Briana. "Max." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2017, p. 84+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479078101&it=r&asid=e7e74174ffb53ad18d6264346d2551e2. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479078101
Max
Deirdre F. Baker
93.1 (January-February 2017): p91.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 The Horn Book, Inc.. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.hbook.com/magazine/default.asp
Max
by Sarah Cohen-Scali; trans. from the French by Penny Hueston
High School Porter/Roaring Brook 421 pp.
3/17 978-1-62672-071-8 $19.99 g
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Young Konrad is a product of Hitler's Lebensborn program, designed to refine and increase the Aryan "master race." His parents were selected for their perfect Aryan features and coloring, and when baby Konrad emerges, his own are assessed before it's decided that he can live. Blond, blue-eyed, born on Hitler's birthday in 1936, he's raised without empathy or affection in a Nazi orphanage and indoctrinated with Nazi ideology. At age six, he proves himself a paragon of German youth by helping to lure Polish children to Nazi kidnappers. Then he befriends teenage Lukas--blond, blue-eyed, indomitable, and Jewish--and begins to question Nazi propaganda. Max is no easy read: for the most part, Cohen-Scali portrays her product of ideological engineering as abrasive, arrogant, vulgar, and profane. Konrad's unreflective racism, misogyny, and homophobia remain (realistically) unmitigated until late in the war. In an unusual move, the first-person narrative opens with the boy addressing us from the womb--a way for Cohen-Scali to illustrate the depth of his relentless, propagandistic formation, and what it costs him in stunting his humanity. Near war's end, Konrad reclaims the name "Max," first whispered to him by his mother, providing a tentative hope for his emotional growth.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Baker, Deirdre F. "Max." The Horn Book Magazine, Jan.-Feb. 2017, p. 91. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA476679389&it=r&asid=f70983fe56e2598ea2f80baa18289d21. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A476679389
Cohen-Scali, Sarah. Max
Laura Falli
63.2 (Feb. 2017): p100.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
COHEN-SCALI, Sarah. Max. tr. from French by Penny Hueston. 432p. ebook available. Roaring Brook. Mar. 2017. Tr $21.99. ISBN 9781626720718.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Gr 9 Up--Chilling and thought provoking, Cohen-Scali's novel contemplates the legacy of Lebensbom, Hitler's mandated mating of "racially pure Aryan" men and women. With a touch of magical realism, Konrad begins his first-person narrative in utero with hateful and articulate speeches, reflecting a maturity well beyond his years. He is a Lebensbom child, and his internal monologue is that of an unapologetic, sociopathic white supremacist. Konrad witnesses the horrors of the Third Reich, such as the systemic raping of women, infanticide, and other atrocities, yet to him, they are simply part of life. As the model Aryan youth, he obediently follows orders and aids in the kidnapping of Polish children for "Germanization." Konrad's soul is thrown a lifeline when he enters Germanization school and befriends an older boy, Lukas, who soon reveals himself (only to Konrad) as Jewish. Lukas pities Konrad and sees the wounded child behind the hate speech he uses, and he tells Konrad that they must survive in order to bear witness. At the war's end, will he be Konrad, the indoctrinated Nazi, or Max, the child so lovingly named by his mother? To what will he bear witness? Readers are left with a horrifying question: Was Hitler's goal of raising young people to "terrify the rest of the world" attained? An author's note includes brief discussion of historical figures who appear in the book. VERDICT A mature, provocative perspective on a harrowing history, the effects of which reverberate today. Consider for high school and public library collections and for curriculum connections.--Laura Falli, McNeil High School, Austin, TX
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Falli, Laura. "Cohen-Scali, Sarah. Max." School Library Journal, Feb. 2017, p. 100+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA479405616&it=r&asid=6a09126fb56e6cfd4b0d257ca9f55cd0. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A479405616
Cohen-Scali, Sarah: Max
Gillian Lathey
64.2 (Summer 2016): p125.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
Cohen-Scali, Sarah
Max
Translated by Penny Hueston
Walker, 2016, pp400, 7.99[pounds sterling]
978 1 4063 6825 3
Young Max, also known as Konrad von Kebnersol, is the knowing and unsympathetic narrator of this grim, unrelenting account of his life as a product of the Nazi Lebensborn programme. An Author's Note informs young readers of the aim of Lebensborn: to increase the stock of children classed as 'racially pure' by encouraging unmarried women to give birth to children in state nursing homes, and through the organised kidnapping and Germanisation of suitable Polish and Ukrainian children. Unusually for books on the theme of Nazi persecution, this is not a victim's story since Max is an ardent follower of the ideology of the Third Reich and plays a part in the enticement of Polish children. Max's cynical command of the narrative, even while still in his mother's womb, allows for chilling insights into the absolute corruption of the young.
A statement on the cover that the book is for readers of 14+ is entirely justified in view of the disturbing perspective of an indoctrinated central character. Only as Max tells his story in the final pages does his iron will begin to falter and he sheds a few tears. Throughout the narrative there is an emphasis on unpleasant and gruesome detail and extreme inhumanity, with very few characters to evoke readers' sympathies. Although enlightening on a neglected aspect of Nazi atrocities in fiction for the young, this book is a difficult read emotionally and requires some mediation and contextualisation from teachers and parents.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Lathey, Gillian. "Cohen-Scali, Sarah: Max." School Librarian, Summer 2016, p. 125. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA457107203&it=r&asid=2a6ba3985ef5cd4dd5f5eb6f09ddb8df. Accessed 23 Sept. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A457107203
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‘Max’, by Sarah Cohen-Scali
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July 22, 2016
by Review by Suzi Feay
The narrator here is already a committed Nazi in the womb; as a foetus, Max clings on so that he can be born on the Führer’s birthday. As he relates his life up to the age of nine, he sheds light on the appalling system of Lebensborn, where Aryan women were encouraged to breed with SS officers. But that’s not all — the children of conquered countries, if they’re racially pure enough, are forcibly removed from their parents and sent to brutal academies to be “Germanised”. For Max, his only hope of redemption is a growing friendship with seemingly Aryan, but actually Jewish, Lukas. Although he despises Max, Lukas sees him primarily as a victim of indoctrination and abuse. Amnesty International endorses this book, and it’s not hard to see why. Max, by Sarah Cohen-Scali, translated by Penny Hueston, Walker Books, RRP£7.99, 400 pages
Max
Sarah Cohen-Scali, trans. from the French by Penny Hueston. Roaring Brook/Porter, $19.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-62672-071-8
French author Cohen-Scali’s U.S. debut chronicles the rise and fall of the Third Reich through the eyes of a child. Konrad von Kebnersol (dubbed Max by his birth mother) is a product of Lebensborn, a top-secret Nazi eugenics program designed to propagate the Aryan race. Baptized by Hitler and raised by the Nazi Party, Max serves as bait to aid in the kidnapping of Polish children, then enrolls at the Kalish school to facilitate the abductees’ Germanization. There, Max meets Lukas, an older boy to whom Max bears a striking resemblance. The two become like brothers, so it’s a shock to Max when Lukas confides that he’s Jewish. Unfortunately, Cohen-Scali’s plot relies too heavily on coincidence, and Max’s narration lacks nuance (even as a fetus, he narrates like a mustache-twirling villain); although Lukas’s relationship with Max forms the book’s emotional core, Cohen-Scali waits 200 pages to introduce him. The novel endeavors to teach an important lesson about the indoctrination and exploitation of German youth, but excessive exposition and an awkward structure muddy the message. Ages 15–up. (Mar.)
DETAILS
Reviewed on: 12/19/2016
Release date: 07/19/2016
Paperback - 424 pages - 978-607-07-1892-2
Ebook - 978-1-62672-072-5
Max
Sarah Cohen-Scali; Penny Hueston, trans.
Roaring Brook Press 2017
432 Pages $19.99
ISBN: 978-1-62672-071-8
amazon indiebound
barnesandnoble
Review by Shira Schindel
In chapter one of Max, we are introduced to a male fetus created through the Nazi Lebensborn program. Through the protagonist’s carefully curated blue eyes, we learn how the program breeds children to embody traits of the ideal Aryan race—“I must be blond. I must have blue eyes. I must be sharp. Lean. Hard. Tough. Made of Krupp Steel”—and quickly takes them from their birth mothers’ arms to be raised by the Reich.
Max rises to the head of his litter in physical perfection and Draufgängertum, the desired quality of “a go-getter, daredevil.” As he grows, Max is found to be singularly exceptional at helping various temporary caretakers—doctors, sisters, SS officers—lure fair-haired, blue eyed, Polish children from their families to be Germanized to bring more children into the Aryan race. Max revels in his role helping the Führer, and he wants for nothing more. When at six he meets Lukas, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jew, who is afraid of nothing, their friendship throws everything Max has believed into question.
Like so many stories to which we are asked to bear witness, this is not always a pleasant tale. It depicts childhoods filled to the brim with war, and spares no horrific detail. While the descriptions of teens plotting murders and girls forced at the hands of soldiers may not be for all, the brutality of hearing this story through the first-person narration of a child highlights the task we are asked to perform as listeners. As a rescue worker encourages Max when the war is done but the deeds are still fresh: “here the children are not punished for the sins of the father.” Recommended for ages 15 and up.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Max’ by Sarah Cohen-Scali
June 28, 2016 11:00 am
Out now
Click here for more info
Reviewed by Louise Jones
Features 2It’s a tough task to present a character for whom one can feel both disgust and hope, but Konrad von Kebnersel is one of those characters, carefully crafted to cater to such a complex study of a young boy in the throes of world conflict and genocide. Following this poster child of the Lebensborn programme, Sarah Cohen-Scali makes a powerful case for victims of the Nazi regime and invokes empathy for the very children raised to be war machines.
By following the narrative of a young child on the “wrong side” of WW2, Max could run the risk of becoming derivative of John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. However, Cohen-Scali treads a different path to Boyne: whereas Striped Pyjamas’ Bruno is an innocent and amoral narrator, Konrad is a furious child with all the prejudices and violent tendencies of Hitler’s ideal Jungmänner. Even before his birth he talks to the reader directly, quite literally blind in his hatred. By immediately taking a strong viewpoint, the reader is conflicted and yet empathetic to Max’s plight: he’s only a child, alone in the world, of course he becomes radicalised easily. There are, however, tender moments when we see from under the polished veneer of doctrines the young child who simply yearns for a family and for approval.
Cohen-Scali paces the novel well, matching the speed of the war’s advancement with Konrad’s rushed initiation into several operations and training programmes. Konrad’s glossary of “code words” shows the reader just how quickly the children of Europe are forced to grow up and take on adult responsibilities. The matter of fact description of persecution and death is at first a game for Konrad, but we see his sympathy for others grow against his will. When he is utterly revolted by the contents of the soap used at his training academy, Cohen-Scali invokes visceral imagery through mere insinuation. It’s an incredibly powerful moment.
There are several themes that seem mature for younger readers and yet this feels like an incredibly necessary read for all high-schoolers. It plunges the reader into the heart of the war in Germany, both from the perspective of soldiers and persecuted outside groups. Later we also receive the viewpoint of those German citizens forced into squalor as their country loses the war. Whilst a certain reintroduction of a figure from Konrad’s past seems shoehorned in for an emotional climax, it only serves as a stepping-stone for a mightier punch of pathos that does results in an extremely chilling late passage.
The true appeal of Max is incredibly hard to articulate to someone if they haven’t read it themselves first – which I do highly recommend. Whilst the direct address from a baby who hasn’t even been born yet is a confusing concept that takes some time getting used to, the book progresses into an incredibly powerful and important piece of literature. Readers are sure to find themselves reacting very strongly to the subject matter, which is to be expected from this surprisingly chilling novel.
Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali
Reviewed by Leanne Hall
25 Jan 2016
Prepare to be taken uncomfortably deep into the Third Reich. Our narrator, Konrad, begins his story in utero – immediately demonstrating an ambitious nature and unswerving devotion to the Führer. Konrad has been conceived as part of the little-known Nazi Lebensborn program, a practical attempt at eugenics that paired selected German women with SS officers to produce thousands of ‘superior’ Aryan babies.
Max is a fascinating and disturbing journey into the mind of a child raised by a regime; a child who is indoctrinated, traumatised, and denied all affection and family. Konrad’s early care, schooling, and the eventual chaotic collapse of the Reich make for harrowing reading. The Lebensborn program extended to the kidnapping and ‘Germanisation’ of blonde-haired, blue-eyed Polish children, and it is through his fascination with Polish-Jewish boy, Lukas, that Konrad gradually faces the lies and misinformation of the Reich, and develops a fledgling moral awareness. The physical and political battles between Konrad and Lukas are gripping, and so is their growing trust and friendship. Neither is an innocent, and both are ensnared in a perilous situation where one wrong step can result in death.
Max is highly original and moving in its depiction of both the bravery and resilience of children, and their ability to engage in acts of evil. Author Sarah Cohen-Scali has written a unique, sensitive and morally complex depiction of two lost and damaged boys. Little is held back in this book – and it is for that reason that I’d recommend it for teenagers 13 years and older.
Leanne Hall is the Grants Officer for the Readings Foundation and also works as a children’s bookseller at Readings Hawthorn.