Guest Author - Diana Pederson

Max & Me Mysteries

The Max & Me Mysteries is a 3 book series. The first book, The Trouble with Max is the story of Jessie Miller, a 6th grader who has undergone chemotherapy for cancer. She is bald and finds that many of her classmates avoid her. Max arrives in town and becomes her best friend. Max has a secret that no one in town knows about.

Max is adventurous and leads Jessie into many adventures. Jessie’s mother is always worried that she will become too tired or get sick. However, Jessie and Max reassure her that Jessie will stop when she needs to rest. In spite of Jessie’s limitations, she has fun solving mysterious activities in Chenoa Lake, her hometown.

Patricia H. Rushford. The Trouble with Max. Moody Press. 2007.

Danger at Lakeside Farm is the story of another adventure between Jessie and Max. In this situation, Max’s guardians are arrested for drug dealing. She winds up living with a member of Jessie’s church. Very strange things begin happening at the home. They even find a dead body near a goldmine. Jessies’ goal is to prove that Max isn’t responsible for the drugs or missing money that are eventually found.

This book uses real life situations (unfortunately): a child in foster care, drug using parents, missing people. It will keep the middle-school aged young person in your family on the edge of their seats! They may even stay quiet long enough to finish the book in one session of reading.

Patricia H. Rushford. Danger at Lakeside Farm . Moody Press. 2007.

The Secrets of Ghost Island is the title of the 3rd book in the Max & Me series. Enrique, a citizen of Mexico, moves to Chenoa Falls along with his father and sisters. After he dies, he has to run away to Mexico to avoid deportation by our immigration services.

A group of Enrique’s classmates team up to help him. They want to stop deportation proceedings and prove that he isn’t behind a series of robberies that take place in Chenoa Falls. This is a wonderful mystery that leads the group to spending a night on Ghost Island where anything can happen.

Patricia H. Rushford. Danger at Lakeside Farm . Moody Press. 2007.

Recommendation

This is a book series your middle school or upper elementary aged children will love. I suspect they’ll be begging for more books as the series expands. The books are available at Amazon.com.