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SEPTEMBER BOOK OF THE MONTH

The September book of the month is “Max’s Words” by Kate Banks and illustrated by Boris Kulikov.  It will be read on Wednesday, Sept.5.

      Max’s brother Benjamin collects stamps.  His brother Karl collects coins.  Max wants to collect something too so he decides to collect words.  He begins with small, familiar ones—ate, who, big—which he cuts out of magazines and newspapers and then he sorts them.  He arranges and rearranges the words to create stories.  Even though his siblings won’t share pieces of their collections, Max gives away words and the three boys devise a short story together.

      Imaginative, softly colored illustrations reveal the gathered words scattered all over the pages.  The text is set in a variety of styles and sometimes curves around the piles of Max’s collection.  This tale pays homage to the written word and may get children thinking about cutting and pasting their own stories or creating concrete poetry.