#BookReview: Max Booth Future Sleuth Film Flip by Cameron Macintosh and Dave Atze

#MaxBoothFutureSleuth #FilmFlip #BlogTour #BooksOnTourPR #Day2

Max Booth Future Sleuth: #4 Film Flip, Cameron Macintosh (author), Dave Atze (illus.), Big Sky Publishing, September 2019.

Blurb:

In the year 2424, it seems crazy that people once needed film to take photos.

Max and Oscar – Bluggsville’s sharpest pair of sleuths – can’t believe their luck when they find a 400-year-old roll of film. They soon discover it contains a long-lost happy snap, and know they’ve found something super-special.

Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones who realise how rare, and valuable, this photo could be. Max and Oscar are going to need all of their wiliest wits to keep it out of the wrong hands!

Review:

If you’re like me and can’t get enough of this light sci-fi, action-adventure series, then you’ll be glad to know that Cameron Macintosh and Dave Atze aren’t stopping at four. That’s right, the Max Booth Future Sleuth series has SIX titles planned, and we’re over the moon, or the century, or something! But back to the future, or the past, with the fourth title; Film Flip.

From previous titles, the underlying themes have always been about this unbreakable bond between characters, the notion of contentment in their place of belonging, and the awareness of social class and how prejudice can so easily seep into our societal mindset. But Max and Oscar are here to challenge any negative perceptions by working hard as a team, showing resilience, and striving for their own personal goals.

When Jessie (storeroom supervisor at Bluggsville City Museum) hands Max a 400-year-old film canister from the 1990s, he is determined to uncover the hidden secrets of this strange ancient artefact. Unbeknownst to him and robo-dog, Oscar, the very experts they approach at the Photographic Society turn out to be the very obnoxious and selfish villains, ‘developing’ their own plot to ‘capture’ the roll of film for themselves. Old arch nemesis, Captain Selby, makes his familiar, almost-inescapable appearance, too.  What follows is a rather sludgy wild film chase across town and through a dilapidated old building that brought attention to itself on that very roll of film. In a flash, Max and Oscar outsmart those insulting brutes with their wit, problem-solving capacity, some super-handy-sleuthing gadgets and their new-found knowledge of an old piece of technology come back to life (or light!).

Author and illustrator have seamlessly combined once again to create this specially designed chapter book for children from age seven, including refreshingly engaging and straightforward language and pictures that reluctant to independent readers can happily clutch on to. The other superb thing to note is that each title sets its world and characters independently, besides the common thread of themes, so pick up any book at any time, and you’re winning. Macintosh’s playful humour and expressive tone keep readers ‘in the loop’ and mesmerised the whole way through. At the same time, Atze’s black and white illustrations capture a non-stop, laugh-out-loud visual showreel of action and comedy. A handy notes section at the back of the book explains the history of film photography and the science behind how it works. This is a brilliant addition for parents and educators to develop a further interest / study in comparisons between technological advancements from then, to now and the possibilities of the future.

Max and Oscar have definitely gotten themselves in, and out, of sticky situations, once again, with their long roll of entertaining capers that will be sure to make an imprint in their readers’ minds. Informative, fresh, funny and inventive – ‘snap’ a copy of Film Flip now!

Review by Romi Sharp

See previous reviews of Max Booth Tape Escape, Selfie Search and Stamp Safari.

Oh Snap! It’s the Film Flip #BookGiveaway!

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Cameron Macintosh and Film Flip will be featuring at a number of media sources…

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