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Max's Castle
When Max finds a pile of forgotten toys under the bed, his brothers Benjamin and Karl wonder what’s so special about some old blocks.ÌýSo Max shows them.ÌýWith some clever twists of both blocks and imagination, he constructs not only a castle but an entire adventure,Ìýcomplete with pirates and knights, a dark dungeon and a dragon.Ìý
This ingenious sequel to Maxâ€�s Words and Maxâ€�s Dragons shows readersÌýjust how much funÌýwordplay can be.
This ingenious sequel to Maxâ€�s Words and Maxâ€�s Dragons shows readersÌýjust how much funÌýwordplay can be.
40 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2011
1 person is currently reading
86 people want to read
About the author
Kate Banks
84Ìýbooks48ÌýfollowersKate Banks has written many books for children, among them Max’s Words, And If the Moon Could Talk, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award, and The Night Worker, winner of the Charlotte Zolotow Award. She grew up in Maine, where she and her two sisters and brother spent a lot of time outdoors, and where Banks developed an early love of reading. “I especially liked picture books,â€� she says, “and the way in which words and illustrations could create a whole new world in which sometimes real and other times magical and unexpected things could happen.â€� Banks attended Wellesley College and received her masters in history at Columbia University. She lived in Rome for eight years but now lives in the South of France with her husband and two sons, Peter Anton and Maximilian.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
February 24, 2012
I am in love with the way Banks and Kulikov show that switching a few letters changes words. Max and his brothers use alphabet blocks to build a castle. Kulikov does a fantastic job with letter arrangement: Max is in the MOAT hanging onto a block that is angled with an M and a B when Benjamin says they need a BOAT. The story is cute, using the blocks to solve problems, like when the ADDER that is literally "in" the DARK DUNGEON (Banks capitalizes the words the boys have built with blocks) is causing problems, the boys take the L from the BUGLE to make the ADDER a LADDER. How fun would it be to give the kids letters after reading this book to play with and rearrange!
February 15, 2016
Max’s Castle is a thrilling exploration of the creative mind, and a peek into the endless possibilities of a young child’s imagination.
The book begins when Max peers under his bed to finds a box of old toys. He shows his brothers an old letter block he’s found, and tells them he is going to build a castle. They laugh at him and find his discovery boring and immature. As Max builds his castle though, his brothers begin to see what Max sees. They quickly jump into this magical world and enjoy the adventure.
The author and illustrator do an amazing job at reminding the readers of all the fun that can be had when we give in to our imaginations. The illustrations emphasize the adventure Max and his brothers create, bringing the reader into their own imaginations and creativity. There is a lot of word play in this book that could probably spark many conversations in a literacy lesson.
The book begins when Max peers under his bed to finds a box of old toys. He shows his brothers an old letter block he’s found, and tells them he is going to build a castle. They laugh at him and find his discovery boring and immature. As Max builds his castle though, his brothers begin to see what Max sees. They quickly jump into this magical world and enjoy the adventure.
The author and illustrator do an amazing job at reminding the readers of all the fun that can be had when we give in to our imaginations. The illustrations emphasize the adventure Max and his brothers create, bringing the reader into their own imaginations and creativity. There is a lot of word play in this book that could probably spark many conversations in a literacy lesson.
January 6, 2018
Clever! Clever! I selected this book, because I hoped it would be about building, designing, and engineering, but it was so much more. Max creates word worlds with his alphabet blocks. Heavier on the building and rebuilding, Max creates a castle out of blocks, rooms, animals and dangers. Through his use of word knowledge, he is able to help him and his brothers escape danger by turning adder into ladder (with the help of the "l" in "bugle"), and the monkey lets them borrow the "key" to open the trunk, among others. I not only love the combination of creating and language, I love the theme of creating and recreating by using what you have.
April 1, 2013
I’m drawn by the imagination and word-play that embodies this book. Max uses playroom blocks to tell a story, and then to change the story by, for example, turning MOAT into BOAT. It was a little advanced for my child, requiring a basic understanding of spelling that she doesn’t quite have yet. I would recommend for primary grades. Even so, I felt the story was a little long for the target age group, I found myself losing focus after a time. There are also two other books in this series, Max’s Words, and Max’s Dragon (I haven’t read either).
April 27, 2019
This book was sent to us via Book Roo subscription service. Kate Banks and Boris Kulikov, you two are extremely clever. This book engages us all. The little kids don't realize the wonderful letter-play, but the adults do! I'm excited for the day when my children realize the details in this book.
Also, my 4 year old has this book memorized. You can tell how much we read this one: almost every day and sometimes multiple times a day.
Highly recommend.
Also, my 4 year old has this book memorized. You can tell how much we read this one: almost every day and sometimes multiple times a day.
Highly recommend.
April 3, 2013
My son would give this book five stars. (But this is my account :)) He has read it again and again, because there's so much to discover as you stare, and unravel the puzzles and the words. A very clever story, with a fabulous use of language... I think the story would be appealing to most boys, and many adventure-going girls.
July 13, 2020
This book is very imaginative. It is like reading the storyboard of Word World before going to the animation department. It may even make you want to go out and buy some letter blocks or play scrabble.
November 10, 2011
Sometimes you play with words, and sometimes they play with you!
July 22, 2023
This zesty tale celebrates forgotten toys... including some of your favorite toys, at one time: Letters of the alphabet.
Remember how much fun you had, back in the day, learning how to read?!?
In this story Max built the most amazing adventure (and picture book, you could say) out of blocks. Wait 'till you see it, Goodreaders. A review can't do this justice.
At least I can give FIVE STARS to Amazing Author Kate Banks and Agile Artist Boris Kulikov.
Remember how much fun you had, back in the day, learning how to read?!?
In this story Max built the most amazing adventure (and picture book, you could say) out of blocks. Wait 'till you see it, Goodreaders. A review can't do this justice.
At least I can give FIVE STARS to Amazing Author Kate Banks and Agile Artist Boris Kulikov.
July 8, 2017
Logophiles will enjoy the anagram magic of this book. We truly enjoyed seeing how cleverly Max and his brothers rearranged blocks to form the words they needed for their castle adventure. I am excited to read the other books in this series.
August 29, 2017
Max and his brothers are playing in his room with block letters. They are using them to build a very detailed castles and escape peril by spelling out words. While my younger kids didn't get the spelling parts they loved the adventure and were spellbound. preschool or the right toddlers
April 19, 2018
Super clever book! As an adult, I thought it was brilliant! However, it was way too long for my little ones at storytime. As a on-on-one, it would probably work just fine, but with a big group of non-readers, it's a tough sell.
June 5, 2018
Creative play and word play, too. I love pulling words from inside another word or rearranging the letters to make something different. Even better when it's well-integrated into the story frame.
And, it's good modeling of 3 brothers playing together.
And, it's good modeling of 3 brothers playing together.
November 23, 2020
Brilliant! With imagination and blocks, Max builds an adventure out of words for himself and his brother. Begs to be read again and again as readers unscramble letters and have fun with the wordplay. Spectacular art.
December 14, 2023
I didn’t really enjoy this story, but my child was captivated by it and I did appreciate the wordplay it used. I think that this series teaches good learning concepts. I don’t like the illustrations in this series.
March 1, 2017
An excellent story about the power of imagination, and getting along with one's siblings.
January 13, 2018
Anagrams and word play abound in this clever picture book.
April 19, 2018
Max reaches under his bed for some forgotten blocks and builds a fantasy world of wordplay for himself and his brothers. Cute and fun but feels a bit contrived in places.
November 11, 2020
You'd think this book would be one I'd like with its clever use of switching letters of blocks to make new words, but it seemed so forced and just didn't flow.
December 16, 2020
Great for teaching kids about letters and spelling, but got a little tedious reading
May 25, 2021
Adventures with alphabet blocks.
August 22, 2021
Fun use of imagination & word play. Illustrations really help bring the story to life.
September 20, 2021
I love the word play!
January 9, 2024
If loving Scrabble, Boggle, and UpWords was a book, it'd be this. Playtime is totally revamped by Max's imaginative wordplay and quick thinking (and indulgent brothers). I liked it a lot!
January 11, 2024
Beautiful illustrations but the story didn't really do it for me. I did like that it's about boys using their imaginations though.
January 30, 2024
A book about spelling and imagination.
March 5, 2024
Banks Vault #3
Max #3
Book three about Max the wordie and well another ok tale - it seems a long way from book one though,
Anyway some will love it.
Max #3
Book three about Max the wordie and well another ok tale - it seems a long way from book one though,
Anyway some will love it.
January 1, 2025
Beautiful illustrations but the story didn't really do it for me. I did like that it's about boys using their imaginations though.
November 9, 2022
Max enjoys letters of the alphabet and involves his two brothers in imaginative building and adventures using big lettered blocks. Wonderful story with bright fabulous illustrations.
April 14, 2014
Banks, K. (2001). Max's castle. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The story begins with the main character who's name is Max. He is very excited about an item that he has found under his bed. It is a block. Through out the story the last word of the first sentence on a page rhymes with the last word of the first sentence on the next page. Then there begins to be all kinds of different writing techniques that begin to form on the rest of the pages. Back to the story, the main character Max is using the blocks to build himself a castle. Then his brothers decide that they too want a room in his castle. Once the castle is build then they want to make a moat around the castle but quickly learn that first they need a boat. They are on a boat, and then they run into pirates. But they are able to turn them into pies. Then they all decide they want to be kings. Max then decides that his brothers can be knights because in every knight there is a king. Then they get attacked by a black cat who was attracted to the pies from earlier. Then they all of a sudden fall down into the dungeon and are worried. But Max eases their worries basically telling them that everything is going to be okay. Then they found a chest and a key and decided to open it, but just then a ferocious snake popped out! Every time they moved a letter block to make a new word, something different happened to them. At the very end they all are safe and have a big feast of spaghetti. That is the end. I rate the story 4/5. I thought all the use of all different kinds of writing techniques was unique, but felt that it jumped around a little too much. I still very much enjoyed this story. I also thought that it used some big words that may not be appropriate for children around the ages of 5-7 because they may not know the meaning of the words.
The story begins with the main character who's name is Max. He is very excited about an item that he has found under his bed. It is a block. Through out the story the last word of the first sentence on a page rhymes with the last word of the first sentence on the next page. Then there begins to be all kinds of different writing techniques that begin to form on the rest of the pages. Back to the story, the main character Max is using the blocks to build himself a castle. Then his brothers decide that they too want a room in his castle. Once the castle is build then they want to make a moat around the castle but quickly learn that first they need a boat. They are on a boat, and then they run into pirates. But they are able to turn them into pies. Then they all decide they want to be kings. Max then decides that his brothers can be knights because in every knight there is a king. Then they get attacked by a black cat who was attracted to the pies from earlier. Then they all of a sudden fall down into the dungeon and are worried. But Max eases their worries basically telling them that everything is going to be okay. Then they found a chest and a key and decided to open it, but just then a ferocious snake popped out! Every time they moved a letter block to make a new word, something different happened to them. At the very end they all are safe and have a big feast of spaghetti. That is the end. I rate the story 4/5. I thought all the use of all different kinds of writing techniques was unique, but felt that it jumped around a little too much. I still very much enjoyed this story. I also thought that it used some big words that may not be appropriate for children around the ages of 5-7 because they may not know the meaning of the words.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
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