Max Kowalski Didn’t Mean It by Susie Day
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A while ago, I had a very particular need to read some Susie Day. I have adored her work for a long time and I think that in many ways, it demonstrates everything that is good in present-day children’s literature. She writes stories that are full of such hope and kindness for the world that sometimes I just want to kind of walk into the page and let it all sort of sink into me and never let it go. She is good, her work is good, and I think that if you know her stories, then you know a very quiet and rather lovely glory.
Max Kowalski Didn’t Mean It is a story about a young boy trying to deal with the world. His mother is dead and when his father suddenly disappears, it’s down to Max to look after his three young sisters. Things do not go well and then, all of a sudden, Max makes a decision that will change all of their lives forever. He and his sisters are going to the Welsh mountains. And when he’s there, he’s going to slay a dragon…
There’s some delicious character work going here and I loved it entirely. Max’s father is engaged in some not particularly legitimate activities and the resolution to this plot strand is delivered with such sensitivity and delicacy that I just loved every inch of it. I cried at several points. I beamed at others. I loved it entirely.
Love. I know that whenever I write about Day’s books, I tend to use that word a lot but I do because it’s true. I find love and loveliness everywhere in these books: love for people, love for literature, love for messed up people who don’t know how to make things right but eventually figure it out, love for potato obsessed siblings, love for life, love for people who can be brave even when they are terrified, love for everyone in the world and everything in it.
This is the good stuff, right here.
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Daisy May Johnson 