Title: Adventurous Max Flax
Author: Kathleen Curtis Wilson
Publisher: Brilliant Books Literary
ISBN: 979-8-88945-445-8
Pages: 36
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book / Educational
Reviewed by: Gabriella Harrison

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Adventurous Max Flax by creator Kathleen Curtis Wilson is an informative, illustrated children’s book which explains the history of Irish linen and the processes involved in turning it into useable items; such as clothes, towels, umbrellas, maps, flags, ship sails, bandages, sacks for holding grain, etc. The narration follows Max Flax, a lively flax plant, on his journey from a field outside the village along the River Mourne until he gets sold to a coffee plantation owner in South America.

Max Flax grows up in a field with his friends and is happy to be with them, but every day, he worries about his future, hoping he will be used to making a man’s linen shirt or some other beautiful item rather than a little boy’s underpants that will likely get soiled. Then, one morning, he is lifted from the field, wrapped in a bundle with his family and friends, and carried away. What will become of Max? Will his dream of becoming a man’s linen shirt be fulfilled, or will he be made into a little boy’s underpants?

Using simple everyday words and lovely illustrations by Geoff Fulton, Wilson explains step by step how linen is gotten and turned into the beautiful items we admire and use regularly, from the first stage of retting to the last stage of sewing. While these steps are explained briefly with short sentences and illustrations, there is a more detailed explanation of each step at the end of the book and a glossary of some words with drawings of the tools used in the various stages. The colors are bright and add cheer to the book. Max’s cheerful disposition as he goes through the process of being transformed from a flax plant to usable linen is encouraging.

This is a lovely book to spark children’s interest in fabrics, design, clothes, and the processes involved in creating these clothes and other items they are already familiar with. It is also a simple way to teach them about Irish linen and perhaps encourage them to find out about other materials used to make clothes. This book would be particularly helpful for linen weavers who want to explain what they do to children. I enjoyed how easy Wilson made it to understand each stage and how jovial Max is when narrating what he experiences. I especially like how proactive Max is in ensuring the yarn from his hair doesn’t remain in the spinner’s wheel on a bobbin. Instead, he picks it up and goes looking for a weaver working at his loom to turn his yarn into linen. Then he follows through to see what will be done with it, unafraid to visit a different continent. I believe drawing children’s attention to this lesson will encourage them to be proactive.

Kathleen Curtis Wilson’s illustrated children’s book Adventurous Max Flax is insightful in highlighting the dedication involved in turning a flax plant into linen.