Small Group Read Aloud Program: Integrative Strategy Guide
Title: Max’s Words
Author: Kate Banks
Illustrator: Boris Kulikov
Age Range: 7-9
Topic/Themes: Collecting, Vocabulary, Sharing
See video of this book read aloud here: Max's Words
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INTRODUCTION (PREP QUESTIONS)
 Model a think-aloud strategy with the students: “I wonder is Max is the boy on the cover? I wonder what
he’s doing with scissors. Why is there someone in the background hiding in the bushes?”
 Use the title and the cover to predict the story. What do you think the story will be about?
INTEGRATIVE STRATEGIES
 Post Reading:
 Conduct picture walk with students, reviewing the story
 Why do you think that Max wanted to collect things? Why do you think he decided to collect words?
 On p.10, Max said that he used the dictionary and found words that he didn’t know. What do we use the
dictionary for? (To find the meaning of a word.) What are some other ways that help you find the
definition of a word? (Discuss context clues with the students. There are different ways that context
clues can help you. Ex: Illustrations to help define the word, synonyms, antonyms, explanations that
describe what the word might mean.)
 Max’s brothers thought it was funny that Max was going to collect words. On p. 12 his brothers decided
to rearrange their collections like Max. Why do you think they decided to do this? What was different
about Max’s collections versus his brothers’ collection? (Max could rearrange his collection of words and
get different things like sentences and stories.
 Why do you think that Benjamin and Karl kept telling Max that he couldn’t have a stamp or a coin on
page 15? How do you think they were feeling when they started to see that Max’s collection of words
could create so many things? Why do you think so?
 Is the story fiction, a make-believe? Or, is the story non-fiction, true information that gives you facts to
explain something? If fiction, what happened in the story that could not have happened in real life?
 What do you think was the author’s message to the reader? What did she want us to think about? Why
do you think so?