Max's Words

Written by Kate Banks

Illustrated by Boris Kulikov

Most enjoyed by Kindergartners through 3rd graders

Max's big brothers both have collections. Benjamin collects stamps while Karl collects coins. Max would like to have a collection of his own, but what can he collect? How about words? Max's collection begins with small words like 'the', 'a', 'was', and 'in'. But pretty soon, he's collecting bigger words. Color words, food words, words that make him happy. When his piles of words become to big for his desk, he puts them on the floor and begins to make stories from them. Soon, Benjamin and Karl want to join him, taken in by the magic of Max's words.

Max cuts his words from newspapers and magazines. When he uncovers a new word in the dictionary, he writes it on a scrap of paper. Why not try doing the same with new words you discover? This could be a great daily activity if you're just learning to read or if you want to increase the number of words you already know. If you're a first or second grader, you'll meet new 'Words to Remember' each week in your reading book. Try writing each word on a piece of paper and see how many you have after one month of school, then two months of school and so on until the end of the year. I'll bet you'll soon be like Max and have mountains of words in your collection. Now, what kind of story can you tell with all those words?