Sport-mad Daniel enjoying the story

Max the Champion
Sean Stockdale, Alexandra Strick and Ros Asquith
Frances Lincoln pbk
Sports mad, Max dreams day and night of sporting triumphs. When he dashes downstairs for his breakfast he’s running a race in his mind; when he dives into his cereal,

it’s a swimming pool in is imagination; even his handwriting practice becomes an imaginary javelin event. Sport is always uppermost in his head and he always wins.
When his school participates in a sports tournament, Max’s dream of winning comes true: it’s the Champions Cup for his team. Max is a star!
It is only gradually that one becomes aware of just how many of Max’s class have special needs of one kind or another. Max himself wears glasses and uses an asthma inhaler and a hearing aid; his best pal is a wheelchair user, another child uses a leg brace, to name just some. And, on the classroom wall is a visual time-table.

Outside in the street too we see people going about their daily life –a pair are signing, somebody has a guide dog and there’s tactile paving at the crossing.
None of this is mentioned and at first glance you could miss much of what is going on, so subtle is the presentation. Throughout, the emphasis is on what the children (and others) are able to do; they look as though they are enjoying themselves wholeheartedly. Max himself couldn’t be a better advocate for inclusivity; his passion is all – look at his still life in the art display.

The authors have considerable expertise in special needs and are clearly passionate about inclusivity as their text demonstrates; not one word is spoken about any of the additional needs of the children (and adults) in the story. It’s left to Ros Asquith to show these in her humorous, detailed illustrations wherein Max’s flights of fancy are hilariously presented in thinks bubbles opposite the real events. Assuredly it’s a case of the more you look, the more you see: I love the visual word plays.
At least one copy of this fantastic book should be in every primary classroom.

Buy from Amazon
Buy from your local bookshop:http://www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch