He is singled out by Mr. Pitt, who interacts with him patronizingly and shows him off to visitors like he's a circus attraction. Mr. Pitt raises his voice and overenunciates at Max, and does things like having a chair set up at the front of assembly with a sign in large red letters, "special seat." Every deaf child knows a well-meaning but clueless adult like Mr. Pitt. Ten-year-old Max feels like an outsider at St Goliath’s. He is deaf, and while this doesn’t need to be a problem, the unlikable head ensures that it is, singling him out with a special seat in assembly and showing him off like an exhibit to visitors. He’s also clearly neglected to ensure Max’s peers understand how to foster normal, meaningful relationships with someone who happens to be deaf.

Max and the Millions – Book Club Buddies Max and the Millions – Book Club Buddies

Author Luke Palmer introduces his new book, Play (Firefly Press) about four boys growing up together, the challenges, the friendships, and what hap...

Ross Montgomery introduces Max and the Millions

Marvellously funny and original . . . it’s the tiny details that make the story work.’ Financial Times

Max and the Millions | Vocabulary Ninja Max and the Millions | Vocabulary Ninja

Max has few friends and rarely interacts with his peers at all, because it is too difficult to keep up with the speechreading. He's also not interested in sports activities, so he has even less interaction than many deaf children would have with hearing peers. His peers, all fellow kids, of course don't realize how fatiguing speechreading is, and the emotional and intellectual labor of repeatedly explaining this and asking for repeats is just as exhausting.

A civilization that needs Max’s help . . .

Additionally, the creative writing ideas this book could spur would be highly inclusive- for example, those pupils excited by the violent threats and tabulations between the three camps could take this element of the story further and story map/ write an alternative section focusing on these miniature groups. The more sensitive of pupils in the class could take on Max’s story for friendship and his difficulties communicating, perhaps how Sasha and his friendship develops in the next academic term. Excellent premise, totally involving, and much more clever than the above would suggest. The historical documents of the Floor are great satire, the story of the warring factions and their place within Max's world gives a new perspective on his own problems.