The Book of Lost Things
Author: Cynthia Voigt
Illustrator: Iacopo Bruno
Book 1 in the Mister Max series
Pages: 384
Published: 2013
Age: 8+
Max's parents are missing. They are actors, and thus unpredictable, but sailing away, leaving Max with only a cryptic note, is unusual even for them. Did they intend to leave him behind? Have they been kidnapped?
Until he can figure it out, Max feels it's safer to keep a low profile. Hiding out is no problem for a child of the theater. Max has played many roles – he can be whoever he needs to be to blend in. But finding a job is tricky, no matter what costume he dons.
Surprisingly, it seems Max has a talent for finding things. He finds a runaway child, a stray dog, a missing heirloom, a lost love...
So is he a finder? A detective? No, he's much more. Max finds a way to solve people's problems – he engineers better outcomes for them. He becomes Mister Max, Solutioneer. Now if only he could find a solution to his own problems...
About the Mister Max Series
Books in series order
- 1.The Book of Lost Things(2013)
- 2.The Book of Secrets(2014)
- 3.The Book of Kings(2015)
Reading age: 8+ years
This series should be read in order.
Newbery medalist Cynthia Voigt presents a rollicking mystery in three acts!
Max Starling's theatrical father likes to say that at twelve a boy is independent. He also likes to boast (about his acting skills, his wife's acting skills, a fortune only his family knows is metaphorical), but more than anything he likes to have adventures. Max Starling's equally theatrical mother is not a boaster but she enjoys a good adventure as much as her husband.
When these two disappear, what can sort-of-theatrical Max and his not-at-all theatrical grandmother do? They have to wait to find out something, anything, and to worry, and – in Max's case – to figure out how to earn a living at the same time as he maintains his independence.