Swami on Rye: Max in India - Hardcover

Kalman, Maira

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670856460 ISBN 13: 9780670856466

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers, 1995

Synopsis

The hero of Max Makes a Million goes off on a wild search for the meaning of life that takes him to India, where he visits the Temple of Doubletalk, meets a chatty guru named Vivek Shabaza-zaza-za, and has other adventures.

About this title

About the Author

In her own words: "born. bucolic childhood. culture-stuffed adolescence. played piano. stopped. danced. stopped. wrote. discarded writing. drew. reinstated writing. married Tibor Kalman and collaborated at iconoclastic yet successful design studio. wrote and painted children's books. worried. took up Ping-Pong. relaxed. wrote and painted for many magazines.  cofounded the Rubber Band Society. amused. children: two. dog: one."

Reviews

Grade 3 Up?Max the dog is on the move again! This time, impending fatherhood catapults him out of his chair in search of "the stinky herring snacks" his darling pregnant wife Crepes craves. Hairy Harry's Fish Shop is his intended destination?but not, alas, his destiny. When a woman on the subway hands him a piece of paper?a personal invitation to the Magic Lantern Restaurant?Max, opener of doors, attends. And so, Max meets Vivek ("your genial genie, your garrulous guru, your suave swami"). With him, Max soars toward India on a small carpet and from his new transcendent vantage point looks down with awe at the array of life in the streets below. And readers see it too, in warm rich earth tones and generous strokes of bright color, a double-page painting inviting readers into "I-Spy," as Kalman's text rolls out a litany of descriptions to match the images. Each subsequent page offers a new turn down Max's path to enlightenment?through bits of wordplay and allusion, geography and history, philosophy and poetry, fun and games; through vivid paintings small as postage stamps, framed pictures formal and arresting, images expansive and fanciful. This guided tour is inventive and personal, but, best of all, beyond Max's madcap meanderings there emerges a sense of humor that comes from a knowledge and appreciation of Indian culture. Is this a book for children or an adult picture book? Of course art finds its own audience and those who appreciate Kalman's talents may bring a range of responses to a reading?sophistication, insight, life experience, or a child's simple openness to the surprising way words and images and ideas create mysterious and amusing worlds upon a page. True, this is a book beyond children, in a sense, but it is also one that speaks to all who "enter in." As Max might say, "Whatabook!"?Susan Powers, Rock Creek Forest Elementary School, Chevy Chase,
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Holy Madras!" Max the dog, offbeat poet and hirsute hero of such adventures as Max in Hollywood, Baby is back, the locus of perhaps Kalman's most ambitious themes to date. This time Max is a slightly flustered, first-time father-to-be, destined to meet metaphysics head-on in the irreverent form of Vivek Shabaza-zaza-za, self-described suave swami. Before Max can "spell Mississippi," he is swept off to India on a surreal trip worthy of Siddhartha, in search of an answer to that eternally pesky question, "What (after all) is the meaning (anyway) of life?" Vivid paintings affectionately (and quirkily) capture exotic delights: golden temples, a two-headed demi-god (in a tetchy mood about his breakfast), rickety rickshaws; in a subtle shift in tone, a double-page spread of women dancing outdoors shimmers with an almost sublime beauty. It's a dreamlike odyssey, but mind-bending is evidently Kalman's metier. The unexplainable?a rock that turns into a panther that turns into, among other things, a pair of plaid pants?never feels pointless; this is a magic carpet ride, by definition unpredictable. The witty, free-association writing style is enhanced to maximum effect by the varied, cleverly employed typography. A perfect union of place and palette, of dharma, (dog)ma and unsurpassed cosmological kookiness. All ages.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670856460
• ISBN 13: 9780670856466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40