Just as the whole country fell in love with Captain Tom when he set himself a challenge for lockdown and raised so much money for the NHS, I cannot imagine anyone reading this story without falling in love with young Max as he struggles to cope with his fears and uncertainties during those early months of the first lockdown. Everyone will recall panic buying, social-distancing, being unable to see family and friends, home-schooling, playgrounds being locked, only being allowed out of doors for an hour’s exercise a day and the visceral feelings of fear whenever a relative caught the virus. As an adult it was often difficult to process all these feelings but, by giving Max such an authentic voice, the author enables us to see that world through the eyes of an eight-year-old. He has brilliantly captured how children of that age think and feel, how they’re sometimes confused by abstract explanations and so visualise things in a very concrete way. Just one example (and there are many, many more throughout Max’s story!) was when his Dad, making metaphorical use of trains and planes, was trying to explain how a virus can quickly spread across the world because it travels through the air when people cough and is breathed in by one person after another. Max didn’t really understand but imagined the virus as tiny zombies with suitcases, flying out of people’s mouths and coming down on parachutes … I’m not sure that I’ll ever again be able to think of Covid 19 without that image popping up in my head!
Although I’m considerably older than the target readership for Jeremy Williams book, I enjoyed reading
this deeply-moving, but frequently very funny, story. I not only loved Max’s reflections on the pandemic and lockdown, but also appreciated seeing the world afresh through the eyes of an eight-year-old … and being reminded that the adult world is often confusing and sometimes illogical! I think this delightful story holds an appeal for readers of any age … and as £1 from the sale of every copy will be donated to NHS Charities Together, I hope that at least a million copies will be sold to mark Max’s remarkable achievement!
Although I’m considerably older than the target readership for Jeremy Williams book, I enjoyed reading
this deeply-moving, but frequently very funny, story. I not only loved Max’s reflections on the pandemic and lockdown, but also appreciated seeing the world afresh through the eyes of an eight-year-old … and being reminded that the adult world is often confusing and sometimes illogical! I think this delightful story holds an appeal for readers of any age … and as £1 from the sale of every copy will be donated to NHS Charities Together, I hope that at least a million copies will be sold to mark Max’s remarkable achievement!