This book was great fun! The overall aesthetic is really nice immediately enticing the target audience with a striking cover and bright sprayed edges. The larger text size within was an interesting change and then to learn it was to make the book dyslexia friendly was a great idea. I could really feel Mulhern behind the writing in this book. It had an infectious enthusiasm about it that oozes from the page. To make it illustrated as well was very clever, I can imagine that a youngster with dyslexia would find a real comfort in the words they find difficult to read come to life in the pictures. As for plot and characters, Max was a great leading man! He had his fair share of trials and troubles, that he was able to overcome with some self discovery and help from friends which in itself is a great message for a debut book. The bullying was set out from the very beginning and that I applaud. Facing up to something that is so relevant to so many in your first book can’t have been an easy decision to make but Mulhern didn’t shy away from the difficulty and in fact embraced it very well. I really look forward to whatever else he has in store for what I am sure will be a very dedicated readership.

This is a great book for perhaps late primary age children to read alone or with adults at story time together. The book is about Max Mullers who loves magic tricks and uses them and his magic powers in his daily life to try and defeat bullies (The Crayfish Twins) and help his dad to keep his market stall. I felt that at the beginning of the book it was obvious that an adult was writing it and then part way through it seemed more as though it was Max’s voice. I also read it as though it was a mini Stephen Mulhern narrating, even the illustrations looked like a young Stephen! The book touches on strong themes of bullying, guns, and violence for a young readership. That said, the illustrations are fun and I particularly liked the blue page edges and the magic top hat images with the stars as you flick the pages. Overall, a great read for young people but be aware of the dark and sensitive themes of bullying.

Disclaimer; I won a copy of this book from Readers First. The book cover is so wonderfully illustrated and I liked the addition of the blue page edges. It gives an appeal which makes you want to pick up the book. I feel that the lead character of Max Mullers within the story is very easy for children to identify with. I am sure that we have all met characters like Bully Bottley and the Crayfish Twins along the way. This book has a really lovely feel to it as Max discovers magic and puts it into action to eventually win the day. There are some moral dilemmas where Max has to decide what is right and what is wrong which I thought would encourage children to think about similar situations. The beautiful illustrations continue throughout the book. This an easy reading book which is fun and entertaining. Stephen Mulhern is a well known TV presenter and I think he should be proud of his first childrens novel.

Children from 7 to 11 years will readily engage with Max Mullers, as he tells of his everyday life with his family and friends in London, while secretly longing to become a famous magician. The book appeals both as a serial story to be read aloud, with scope for characterisation and and anticipation, and also as the perfect book for more confident readers to read for themselves. The East London setting is well described and easy to picture, and Max's family and friends are realistic and readily come to life. His family, a diverse and lively bunch, are shown as caring and supportive, and his group of close friends, ready to help when needed. However, there are underlying darker and slightly disturbing themes to the book. There is a balance of "good" and "bad" [and I particularly like the parallel between the bully who hounds Max, and the Crayfish twins in his Dad's world] but there are references to knives, guns bullying and intimidation. Adult care-givers need aware of this, though there is also a strong sense that problems can be solved. There are ways of making the world a better place and I can see the book being a starting point for discussion on this theme. The lively cover, and black and white illustrations within the book add to the picture built up in the narrative and the "flip chart" corners are an added attraction! While the blue page edges make the book stand out on a shelf, I am personally not too keen. Overall, the story is lively and entertaining; the message of the book is positive, and I can see a series on the horizon, building on the firm foundations of this first book. Many children will look forward to hearing about further adventures. Personally, I would love to see more of Gran and her wisdom, and also more hilarious conversations with Lucky!

Thank you to Readers First for providing me with an advanced readers copy of this book. This is the first children’s book by Stephen Mulhern and overall was a quick easy read with lots of illustrations. I think most children of primary school level would be entertained by magic tricks so I imagine this would be very engaging for its target audience. I thought it was also a nice touch that instructions on how to perform certain magic tricks are included at the end of the book. The story telling is age appropriate and simple and would be suitable for a child of around seven to ten years of age. I think any younger would need it to be read to them and enjoyment would be dependent on their level of understanding. I think anyone over the age of ten would probably find some bits a bit too immature and so rather boring, especially if they were higher level readers. It was certainly quite lighthearted but I should warn parents that there are also some elements that might be a bit disturbing for some readers so, dependent on your child, you might want to give it a quick flick through yourselves first– there are elements of bullying as well as criminal extortion and the threat of knives/guns. It could end up being a useful teaching tool to explore these topics with your children as Max faces and deals with all these various issues throughout the course of the book. I think the illustrations really helped to add to the story and capture the events being described and it also has a cute little flip-book element of a top hat changing at the bottom lower right-hand corner of the page. It came across as though this is going to be the start of a series of novels so will be interesting to see when any future books come out – certainly a good first start.