A riotous sequel to Max and the Midknights finds Max and her best friends navigating unexpectedly difficult training, before an attack on Byjovia pits the team against beastly creatures, powerful spells and their own self-doubts. Simultaneous eBook. Illustrations. - (Baker & Taylor)
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES • Max takes on knight school in the hilarious sequel to the bestselling illustrated novel Max and the Midknights, from the author of the Big Nate series!
"Fantastic! I loved it!" -Dav Pilkey, New York Times bestselling author of the Dog Man series
"Max is epic fun!" -Jeff Kinney, New York Times bestselling author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
Max didn't expect knight school to be so tough. Luckily, she has her best friends--the Midknights--at her side. But when Byjovia is under attack, the Midknights will have to face beastly creatures, powerful spells, and their greatest foe yet--themselves?
Lincoln Peirce, author of the New York Times bestselling Max & the Midknights, brings more laughs, more adventures, and more silliness to Battle of the Bodkins, book two in the Max & the Midknights series. - (Random House, Inc.)
Lincoln Peirce is a New York Times bestselling author and cartoonist. His comic strip Big Nate appears in over 400 newspapers worldwide and online at gocomics.com/bignate. In 2010, he began a series of illustrated novels based on the strip, introducing Nate and his classmates and teachers to a new generation of young readers. In the past seven years, sixteen million Big Nate books have been sold.
The New York Times bestselling Max and the Midknights originated as an unfinished spoof of sword and sorcery tales. Returning to the idea years later, Lincoln rewrote the story around Max, a ten-year-old apprentice troubadour who dreams of becoming a knight.
When he is not writing or drawing, Lincoln enjoys playing ice hockey, doing crossword puzzles, and hosting a weekly radio show devoted to vintage country music. He and his wife, Jessica, have two children and live in Portland, Maine. - (Random House, Inc.)
Horn Book Guide Reviews
This Max & the Midknights (rev. 1/19) sequel finds Max enrolled at KSB (Knight School of Byjovia), Millie learning magic from wizard Mumblin, Simon apprenticed at Kevyn's dad's stable, and Kevyn writing books. His debut, The Tale of Max & the Midknights (sound familiar?), leads the friends to their next mission: after Millie casts a spell to produce duplicates of the book, they discover that one of the copies is actually a bodkin, a.k.a. an almost identical evil copy/twin of the original. Bodkins can be people, too, and those living in the shadow world of Knot are planning an invasion of Byjovia. It's up to the Midknights -- including new character Sedgewick (one of Max's classmates) -- to save the kingdom, again. In Peirce's latest comics-novel hybrid, humor abounds throughout the interplay of text, speech-bubble dialogue, and black-and-white illustrations (e.g., upon seeing an ominous-looking face form from the book bodkin's pages, Uncle Budrick quips, And people wonder why I'm a reluctant reader). But Peirce also adds emotional depth to Max's struggle with a very relatable anxiety: she wrestles with doubts about her skills (What if I'm a lousy knight?). An intriguing final twist for Max promises that fans of this mock-chivalric series will again be seeing double in a future installment. Copyright 2023 Horn Book Guide Reviews.
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
This Max & the Midknights (rev. 1/19) sequel finds Max enrolled at KSB (Knight School of Byjovia), Millie learning magic from wizard Mumblin, Simon apprenticed at Kevyn's dad's stable, and Kevyn writing books. His debut, "The Tale of Max & the Midknights" (sound familiar?), leads the friends to their next mission: after Millie casts a spell to produce duplicates of the book, they discover that one of the copies is actually a bodkin, a.k.a. an almost identical evil copy/twin of the original. Bodkins can be people, too, and those living in the shadow world of Knot are planning an invasion of Byjovia. It's up to the Midknights -- including new character Sedgewick (one of Max's classmates) -- to save the kingdom, again. In Peirce's latest comics-novel hybrid, humor abounds throughout the interplay of text, speech-bubble dialogue, and black-and-white illustrations (e.g., upon seeing an ominous-looking face form from the book bodkin's pages, Uncle Budrick quips, "And people wonder why I'm a reluctant reader"). But Peirce also adds emotional depth to Max's struggle with a very relatable anxiety: she wrestles with doubts about her skills ("What if I'm a lousy knight?"). An intriguing final twist for Max promises that fans of this mock-chivalric series will again be "seeing double" in a future installment. Cynthia K. Ritter March/April 2021 p.97 Copyright 2021 Horn Book Magazine Reviews.
Kirkus Reviews
Max and the merry Midknights return in their second adventure and fight treacherous foes that steal their forms. With a high ponytail and skill with a sword, Max is training at the Knight School of Byjovia. Her favorite teacher, Sir Gadabout, has left to help King Conrad, and in his place arrives a foul-tempered instructor named Sir Brickbat. As if this wasn’t trouble enough, a spell gone awry floods the kingdom of Byjovia with bodkins, formless foes from another dimension who take on the form of Byjovian residents. As the denizens of the kingdom are slowly replaced with the evil bodkins, Max and the Midknights must try to discern who is human and who is not in an effort to stop the impending bodkin invasion. Like its predecessor, Peirce’s sophomore graphic hybrid carries on its zippy mix of fast-paced prose and visually interesting illustrations, keeping pages flying to the happy ending with its tantalizing cliffhanger. For those new to the series, this adventure is relatively self-contained, rendering it fine for first-time readers (although a recap of the previous volume is included for the curious). While the illustrations are black and white, shading signals different skin tones: Max and two of her best friends read White, and two other Midknights present with darker skin and hair. Secondary and background characters have a range of skin tones. Consistently entertaining and enjoyable. (Graphic fantasy hybrid. 7-12) Copyright Kirkus 2020 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
