Max and Bird-from colors to story is a great good-night book

Max the cat is back. More precisely, Ed Vere, the author and illustrator of Max is back with a new story about the black, round kitten with large eyes and a blue nose. Max and Bird is pre-K book comfort food that also makes up a great good-night book. The book is stacked with colors, has the characters in all manner of action and features many small words that will become a young reader’s first sight words. Max and Bird is also very cute and has a story that kids will understand.

It all goes down to cats and birds. Every child knows that, given the chance, the cat will kill the bird and eat it. Granted, some cats are lazy, certain birds are quicker than others and baby birds aren’t usually found on the ground.

However, in Max and Bird that’s exactly what’s happened. Bird is on the ground and Max approaches him about being friends. However, Max’s definition of friendship was entirely one-sided as it consisted of him chasing the bird and then eating it. Thankfully for the sake of the story the bird says that he’d love to be friends, but that the two need to have a mutually beneficial relationship.

The two come to an agreement that after Max teaches bird to fly they’ll revisit chasing and anything else that nature might have in store for these two. They go to the library to read books on flight, talk with other birds that can fly and even dream about the two of them flying. All the while they two are becoming friends, despite being cat and bird.

Parents will immediately like the colors that are used in the book. Each page is corner to corner colored, the text size is varied and the emotions that the book evokes are great for the pre-K audience. This is the kind of good-night book that one can read more than once. It’s short enough to stretch out so that it can be read once and has enough energy and fun for it to be re-read again. Max and Bird is from New York Times bestseller Ed Vere and retails for $12.99.