Max and Ruby's Midas : Another Greek Myth

Time Machine
Max and Ruby's Midas Misses the Point, February 1, 2005

Up until now I thought I liked all of Rosemary Wells' stories... but Midas is simply awful. Not only is some of the artwork gruesome, but the story fails to deliver anything close to the original message of how gold (or make-substitution-here) is not the end-all of life.

In Well's version, Ruby tells her little brother about an 'ancient' Max (Midas), who instead of turning everything into gold with a touch, turns everyone into dessert with his laser eyes. Mom is zapped. Dad is zapped, and there is no sign of regret until sister is changed into a slice of cake. Then, without explanation, there is a sudden change of heart. (I guess one can only conclude that it was okay to show more zap mom and dad but not sis.)

The text is not the only problem though. The pictures of Max and his blood-red eyes are strange. Supposedly laser light, the emanations stream down in arches, not in straight lines. It looks more like Max is leaking blood from his eyes. Yeech.

Can't recommend it. show less

In Max and Ruby's Midas Rosemary Wells incorporates her twist of greek mythology to warn younger kids about the overabundance of anything. In this story, Max is eating too many cupcakes, so his sitter Ruby tells him a bedtime story about a prince named Midas who also ate lots of sweets. In the end, Max STILL eats the cupcake so I am not sure if he really learned anything from the story. Children can learn from this story that too much of anything is a bad thing. Although Max did not heed the warning, other children can.

Ruby finds Max trying to sneak two cupcakes so she tells him the story of Midas. Midas was a young boy who hated vegetables and fruit and wished he could turn them into sweets. One day he does just that however his mom, dad, and sister get in the way and are also turned into sweets. By the end Midas wishes for his family back and when it is time for tea they have a sweet for desert Midas wishes for it to turn into broccoli. This is a funny story with a lesson to be learned from it that too much of a good thing is bad.

Grade Level: 5
This book reminds me of the golden touch story. Whenever the king touched something it turned into gold because that is all he wanted. Well, Max only wanted sweets and he stuck into the kitchen and was putting cupcakes in his PJs before he went to bed. His sister noticed this and told him the story of Midas who with his laser vison turned everything into the sweets he said. He turned his mom into a cherry sunda, his dad into jello, and his sister into cake. Midas felt so bad he was crying and asking for his family back then he heard laughter. It was his family laughing because they had tricked him to only want healthy food and when they gave him an ice cream sunday he turned it into broccoli.
Website: show more target="_top">http://treehousetv.com/watch/shows/maxandruby/Activities.aspx show less

Ruby tells Max a bedtime story of a young Midas who's greed for sweets affects his whole family in this light-hearted retelling of the Midas myth.

Max keeps eating cupcakes. Ruby tells him the story of Midas who used his laser vision to turn healthy food into sweets. Unfortunately, he also turned his family into sweets as well! Too many sweets can be a bad thing.

This is a book about an older sister reading a story to her younger brother who had a sweet tooth. It teaches the lesson that to much of a good thing can be a bad thing.