Max Counts to a Million

This book was such a great read, I thoroughly enjoyed every single page and really didn’t want it to end. We meet Max, a young boy just at the very start of Covid-19. We follow him and his inner thoughts through the months, there’s sadness, humour and great strength in this book. His dad is a doctor and is caring for the sick so he moves out of the family home to protect them, his grandfather catches the virus, the schools are shut and he doesn’t have much contact with his pals. This story is hauntingly familiar to so many and the inner thoughts of Max and his mission of counting to a million to raise money for NHS charities is what makes this book so endearing and an absolute pleasure to read. I’d happily let the hound people on my life read this book and I’d definitely buy for and recommend to others. As this is the first book I’ve read by the author I’d be interested in any future works.

At the start of the pandemic, Max is struggling with lockdown and missing his dad who is a doctor and is staying away from home to protect the family. Whenever he gets annoyed, Max is told to go to his room and count to one hundred. One day, wanting to annoy his mum, he decides he’s going to count to one million instead. At first Max doesn’t realise how big one million is but as it dawns on him how huge the challenge is, he finds lots of creative ways to get through it successfully.

This is a fun, lighthearted account of one child’s lockdown experience. I loved reading about the pandemic, school closures and supermarket shortages from the point of view of an eight year old child.

I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Funny, relatable and heartwarming.

Max Counts To A Million is set in 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic is beginning to take hold, and is written from the point of view of eight year old Max.

Max is aware that grown ups are worried but he doesn't really understand what's going on. It starts to hit home when his dad who is a doctor has to start living away from Max and his mum to keep them safe. With tensions frayed, an argument leads to Max being sent to his room to calm down, at which point he lashes out saying he will count to one million. But what starts out as an argument turns into a helpful way for Max to cope with the pandemic and ultimately brings people together

A lot of common experiences are reflected in the story, with his mixed feelings about his school being closed and his disappointment that his birthday party has to be cancelled

It's worth being aware that there as some potentially upsetting aspects, in particular surrounding Max's grandad becoming ill with coronavirus. He is hospitalised for a few days and his dad can't tell Max that his grandad won't die. However, he is soon well enough to be discharged, although he is clearly not well when they are able to see him, continuing to suffer from fatigue, coughing and breathlessness.

My daughter raced through this and especially loved the humour. As well as being lots of fun, serious topics are covered in an accessible way, and I feel this book is helpful for children to process their experiences of the pandemic and to start conversations.

This as a really poignant and humorous reflection on the pandemic as experienced by an 8 yr old boy. I really enjoyed the style it was written in and my son related to the character of Max so much that it was as if they author was writing about our own family at times.

No one is going to forget the past two years in a hurry but this is a wonderful story to relive those events through a child’s perspective. Remembering how they first learnt words like pandemic and lockdown that soon become part of their daily vocabulary.

During Max’s mission to count to a million this book covers all the pivotal moments during that time and the shared experiences we had such as the closing of schools, daily walks, isolating from friends and family, the Thursday night Clap for Carers and people panic buying pasta and toilet rolls.

Max’s Mum is a Nutritionist and his dad is a Doctor so this book is also informative about health and wellbeing without ever feeling preachy or boring.

There are very few things that are more comforting than a heartwarming middle-grade novel and I knew I was going to love this book before I’d read a single page.

Max’s school has closed down due to the UK’s first nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Max’s dad is a doctor who has been called away from the family to fight the virus on the NHS frontline. Max’s grandad has come down with the virus. Max’s mum seems to be incredibly busy and worried about everything. So Max starts counting to distract himself. Then he starts counting some more. Before long, he vows to count to a million and suddenly the whole community is cheering him on.

Max narrates his story directly to the reader and that makes it very easy to build a connection with him. It feels as if this story is especially for us and that Max is a friend, relating his experience of lockdown. Right away, it felt like a very personal story and therefore, my heart was already hooked.

I loved viewing those early days of pre-lockdown and lockdown itself through the eyes of an eight-year-old. Of course, it was a totally different perspective on events that I recently lived through, so I saw it all anew. Keeping the truth from children seems a little pointless and as Max wisely points out, blatantly hiding things isn’t going to ease anyone’s anxieties.

There was so much uncertainty throughout the first lockdown and even the smartest people in our society simply didn’t know what the future held. It was a scary time because of that and Max’s fears about what was to come caused me to revisit those feelings. We really didn’t know where to put our faith or how to plan for the future and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. I’d urge anyone who isn’t ready to go back to March 2020 yet to steer clear of this book because it will undoubtedly take you there.

There is plenty of subtle ridiculing of Boris Johnson, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I know many other adults will too. I think these little touches of fine detail of what it was really like in the UK at that time gives the story a unique authenticity. I genuinely believed that I was reading a real child’s account of a UK COVID-19 lockdown and I don’t think I can give the book a higher compliment than that!

Max Counts To A Million is a heartwarming, realistic story that just might continue to inspire readers to go for their goals, regardless of any potential barriers because ordinary people can do incredible things. The truth is that we can never predict what the future holds for us. We can only make the most of the present and hold close the things that really matter.

Written in first person and set during the early part of the Covid 19 pandemic, we join Max as he counts to a million as a way of relieving the boredom of Lockdown or 'shut down' to use Max's own words. What starts off as a 'punishment' to his Mum becomes a marvellous fundraising event that brings the community together albeit from a social 2m distance. The author, Jeremy Williams, uses the voice of 8 year old Max-short for Max and not short for Maximillian, Maximus,Maxwell or any other random thing that can be shortened to Max-to explain the early days of the pandemic and the key events that followed such as: mayhem in the shops from panic buying, not being able to visit loved ones, the nightly press conferences, the clapping on the doorstep for the NHS and the closure of all things non essential. Williams manages to convey sensitively the concerns that children might have had during this time mixed with the innocent humour of an 8 nearly 9 year old. Max explains the virus as zombies; he and his friends play Corona at school and then when told off essentially play the same game but change the title. The book is littered with humerous 'tangents' including my favourite about maths problems. John has 48 pencils. He gives 5/6 to his friend. How many pencils does John have left?
Max - with all the reasoning of an 8 nearly 9 year old - delves deeper into the question considering whether there are 48 different colours of colouring pencils, what eight colours does John keep and what would John's friend say if he got all the boring or weird colours that are left. There are little gems of childish wisdom within the book and these really add to its appeal. Max counts to a Million is immensely funny and a reminder of what the world has been through. A delight to read with a wonderful little and unexpected twist at the end.
Huge thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this e-ARC to review.

This book is about Max, a normal young boy who goes to school and enjoys his life, but when the coronavirus pandemic hits his life changes overnight - so what is there to do? Count to a million!

This was a great read - the covid pandemic through a fictional child’s eyes and it really made me wonder how much my children were exposed to at the time. This one would be a good book to explain to children about what happened if they were a bit young to remember. This brought back lots of memories - like the homeschool, shopping, face masks and daily walks. It was like Max used the counting as a sort of coping mechanism. I also liked how it felt very real.