Max Counts to a Million: A funny, heart-warming story about one boy's experience of lockdown

Jeremy Williams

Mar 2022 · Nosy Crow

About this eBook

Do you like epic quests of amazing counting?

Do you dislike global pandemics, being stuck at home, and the number 7?

Then I have a story for you. It's about how I counted to a million during lockdown - with help from Mum and Dad, friends and neighbours, and Grandad. And some birds. And a bucket of marbles. And an awesome TV reporter.

Sometimes, just keeping on going makes you a hero.

Eight-year-old Max is counting to a million. Normally, school or having anything interesting to do would get in the way, but school is shut and everyone has to stay home because the UK is in its first lockdown. Max's dad works at the hospital and counting helps Max with missing him, but as the pandemic progresses and Max's grandad journeys through his own battle with the virus, what starts as a distraction turns into record-breaking effort that brings Max's community together.

Suitable for readers aged 7 up, this funny, poignant, uplifting story reflects the experiences shared by so many during the Covid pandemic and celebrates how ordinary people accomplish epic things.

£1 from the sale of every copy of this book will be donated to NHS Charities Together (Registered Charity Number 1186569)

Ratings and reviews

Max Counts to a Million is told from the point of view of the aforementioned eight-year-old title character, so the way the story is written in the child's voice should be easy to follow for most young readers, who will also be able to relate to the kind of language Max uses and may be drawn in too by both the front cover and the illustrations that accompanies the opening page of a new chapter (both of which wouldn't necessarily look out of place in a Jacqueline Wilson novel). However, there's something in this for parents and grown-ups too as the story deals with the fact that Max's dad works in a hospital and explores how the child copes in his continuing absence as the pandemic progresses. The opening stages of the novel also sees (for example) mother and father discussing how and what to tell Max about the coronavirus, so there's a husband and wife dynamic to look out for as well as the father and son relationship.

really good and never in my life I have readed a thicc book and I mean never

About the author

Jeremy Williams grew up in Madagascar where he lived with his parents, two brothers, two sisters, a dog, three pigeons, sixteen chickens, four ducks, four tortoises, two cats that liked him and one that did not. There was no TV or computer games, so he read every children's book in the house, then Dad's history books and Mum's classic novels. Then he started on the encyclopedia. He read as far as G before somebody sent some new books. Unsurprisingly, Jeremy has only ever wanted to be a writer. Today he writes serious books for adults and less serious books for children. He still doesn't have quite enough books.