Max Champion and the Great Race Car Robbery
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley September 19, 2018
Author Alexander McCall Smith, illustrated by Kate Hindley
Distributor: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
ISBN: 9781408886120
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
Release Date: May 2018
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Written in his wonderfully measured style of words, Alexander McCall Smith has created a gentle story about courage, goodness and honesty which will delight the hearts of younger readers.
Max, his Mother and his grandfather are very poor. Max and his Mum live in a very small house and grandfather lives in the shed at the bottom of the garden.
Max has to help Grandfather Gus in his garage, as well as helping his Mother and when he is not at school doing his part-time job mowing lawns. In their village lives a family of very wealthy people, The Grabbers, who like to win. They are not very nice, are very boastful and certainly not very honest.
When Mr Grabber brings his car to Grandfather Gus’s garage to have it cleaned, Max offers to wash the car, something at which he is very good. While he is washing the mud off the car, he finds a badge on the old fashioned racing style car that has his family name on it, Champion, and wonders why this is so: how could this be.
From then on so very much happens between the greedy Grabbers, and Max and his family that the entire book takes on feeling of riotous adventure which could simply end up anywhere at all: maybe the Grabbers will win the day or maybe Max and his grandfather, with a little bit of help from their friends will emerge the winners.
Kate Hindley, with her accompanying illustrations has captured the spirit of the book perfectly, which compliments McCall Smiths slight zany style of writing perfectly.
Bound in a hard cover, with dust jacket, the entire book, from cover to final page is a great big, old fashioned story, one of which Grandparents will enjoy reading to their grandchildren and children will enjoy reading to themselves.