SuitabookMax and the Millions
Ross Montgomery
- Reading
- Read alongside the book’s shifting viewpoints, pausing to consider how Max, Luke and the adults understand events differently. Afterward, discuss whether the fantasy’s treatment of deafness feels respectful and specific.
- Themes
- Deafness and communication: Max is deaf, uses hearing aids and experiences isolation at school; communication becomes important in his relationship with both the hearing world and the miniature inhabitants. The portrayal gives Max’s deafness emotional and practical specificity while also making communication skills central to his agency; the balance may merit discussion.
- Division, cooperation and power: The miniature people are separated into rival groups, while Max and his friends try to communicate across those divisions and protect the tiny world from the headteacher. Division and coercive authority are presented as problems, while cooperation is made an explicit route towards peace; the allegory’s exact scope remains open.
- Friendship and fitting in: Max begins as someone who finds being alone easier, then works with Sasha and others while facing the demands of the miniature-world crisis. Friendship and belonging are treated warmly, with Max’s developing relationships presented as meaningful support rather than merely background to the adventure.
- Worth knowing
- Some readers may want to talk about hearing-aid feedback, lip-reading, assumptions about deafness and adults communicating poorly. The story also includes a threatening authority figure and conflict between tribes.