The Book of Lost Things - Hardcover

Voigt, Cynthia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307976815 ISBN 13: 9780307976819

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013

Synopsis

Newbery medalist Cynthia Voigt presents a rollicking mystery in three acts!

Max's parents are missing. They are actors, and thus unpredictable, but sailing away, leaving Max with only a cryptic note, is unusual even for them. Did they intend to leave him behind? Have they been kidnapped? 

Until he can figure it out, Max feels it's safer to keep a low profile. Hiding out is no problem for a child of the theater. Max has played many roles, he can be whoever he needs to be to blend in. But finding a job is tricky, no matter what costume he dons.

Ironically, it turns out Max has a talent for finding things. He finds a runaway child, a stray dog, a missing heirloom, a lost love. . . . So is he a finder? A detective? No, it's more. Max finds a way to solve people's problems—he engineers better outcomes for them. He becomes Mister Max, Solutioneer.  

Now if only he could find a solution to his own problems . . .

About this title

About the Author

CYNTHIA VOIGT is the acclaimed author of many books, including Dicey's Song,winner of the Newbery Medal, and A Solitary Blue, winner of a Newbery Honor, and Homecoming. For the body of her work, Cynthia Voigt was honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Outstanding Literature for Young Adults. She lives with her husband in Maine.

Reviews

Gr 5-8-Admirers of Voigt's "Tillerman" series (S & S) will recognize several plot points in this first volume of a proposed trilogy: a child is seemingly deserted by his parents and survives with the support of his grandmother. But there the similarities end, for this is a mystery-cum-adventure story with a 19th-century feel and an accumulation of improbabilities that build to a satisfyingly melodramatic climax. As Maximilian Starling wends his way around his nameless city trying to find an honest day's work, he stumbles across a series of people with problems, unanswered questions, unsatisfied longings, or vague states of malaise. And then there are the sinister types who seem intent on breaking into Max's house. What are they looking for? Fortunately, Max's parents were theatricals, which gives him both an intimate knowledge of roles to assume while pretending to be old enough for employment and an ample supply of costumes in which to disguise himself. Whether it's finding a good home for a lost dog, facilitating the reunion of disappointed lovers, or recovering a long-lost heirloom, Max displays good sense, a sensitive nature, and winning ingenuity. He resists being labeled a detective and since he merely guides people toward the resolution of their troubles, it's fitting that he calls himself a "solutioneer." By book's end, however, he has not answered his own questions. Readers still don't know what has happened to his parents, for example. This will likely leave them strangely contented, knowing that Voigt has so much more to reveal in the sequels to this comedic page-turner.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Library, NYα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In the early 1900s, 12-year-old Max arrives at the dock to join his parents for a voyage to India only to learn that they have already gone, leaving him a cryptic note. He confides in his grandmother, who encourages him to support himself until their return. After he finds a lost toddler and restores the boy to his mother, her friends hire Max to recover other things they have lost. Though baffled by the mystery of his parents’ disappearance, Max discovers that he has a knack for solving other people’s problems. The measured pace of the writing will not appeal to every reader, but the style suits the story’s period. Voigt takes her time creating multifaceted characters and laying the groundwork for the next two volumes in the Mister Max trilogy, while the novel quietly builds a momentum of its own. The hint of lurking villainy is real, but even stronger is the sense that Max, his grandmother, and his friends will use their individual strengths to set things right. Stay tuned. Grades 4-6. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0307976815
• ISBN 13: 9780307976819
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Bruno Iacopo
• Number of pages: 400