Max and Ruby in Pandora's Box

Max and Ruby

by Rosemary Wells

Ruby wants Max to stay out of her room, but Max wants in. He just has to see what's inside of her jewelry box. When the sign on her door fails to keep him out, Ruby tells Max her own version of the Greek myth Pandora's Box. Will the story of one overly curious bunny who learned her lesson about snooping teach Max his?

"A perfect offering for those who enjoy the skewed tales of James Marshall and Jon Scieszka." — School Library Journal

"Clever and great fun, fans of the droll, mischievous bunny will welcome him back." — Booklist

Rosemary Wells is the acclaimed author and illustrator of many books for children, including Max's Christmas, Max's Dragon Shirt , and Noisy Nora (Dial and Puffin). She is also the author of the McDuff picture books, illustrated by Susan Jeffers (Hyperion). She lives in Westchester County, New York.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Mythology, Animals

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 1993

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Rosemary Wells is an American writer and illustrator of children's books. She often uses animal characters to address real human issues. Some of her most well-known characters are Max & Ruby and Timothy from Timothy Goes To School (both were later adapted into Canadian-animated preschool television series, the former’s airing on Nickelodeon (part of the Nick Jr. block) and the latter’s as part of PBS Kids on PBS).

Reviews

[Shawn Deal]

This I thought was super creative. Ruby does not want Max touching her things in her room to emphasize her point, she tells him the story of Pandora's box, which of course, features them in starring roles.

[Elsa]

I generally like Max and Ruby books, but this is a weird mistelling of the Pandora story.

[Ashley Frickson]

Ruby wants Max to stay out of her room, but Max wants to see what is inside of her jewelry box. Ruby tells Max her own version of Pandora's box. Will this teach Max a lesson on snooping? Intriguing until the end.. great book!

[Professor]

Both kids (4 and 2) liked this one but it's not a great Max and Ruby book or a great kid's myth book.

[Jon]

What a fun and weird little book. Think Rowan might currently enjoy the spider most, but he has a great time with the whole thing. He's always up for it.

[Ashley Wilson]

Max and Ruby's First Greek Myth is a story about pandoras box. Ruby tells Max to stay out of her room and Max just has to have a peek. This leads Ruby to reading the story to Max about doing something that he is not supposd to do. In the story, Pandora opens a box, that she thought to be irressistable in it there are "hundreds of twister bees, a slew of fire ants, and clouds of Mexican jumping weevils". In reading the story, Ruby lets Max know the importance of not doing things that he has promised not to do.
I really liked this book. It was interesting to read the story because Samiah likes to watch Max and Ruby on the weekends. It was neat becasue the story is written just like the two talk in the show. I think that this makes for a great book to read to young children. I know for some children they do not like to sit down and read but if the story is about familiar characters, reading can becoe fun for them. Because of this, I can see the Max and Ruby series being good for early readers.
Not only was the story interesting and easy to follow but the pictures in the book are also well illustrated. The colors are suttle and look like the scenery on t.v. The colors are not too loud and the details on objects are just right. For students who are not readers, I think they would enjoy looking at the pictures becasue they tell the story too. Overall this is a great book, for beginning readers to have read to them.

[Dorinda Davie]

Myth
I love Rosemary Wells and her Max and Ruby books were endlessly read to my children. That being said, when I saw that she had written about a Greek myth, Pandora’s Box, I was intrigued. Max and Ruby are simplistic bunny characters, Ruby being the bossy older sister and Max, the curious and mischievous little brother. The story begins with Ruby trying to keep Max from snooping in her room but to no avail. She decides a story about Pandora’s Box is in order and sits Max down to read him the tale, in essence a story within a story. Although Rosemary Wells is usually right on cue with the younger audience, I found the vocabulary of the story off track during the telling of the myth. For example, “Pandora sat outside on the terraceum, away from temptation, but a magnetic force propelled her inside”. I can see the blank look on my student’s faces now! Luckily the illustrations match the wording and audiences will be able to follow along. I would recommend this to older children rather than her usual younger crowd. Target audience: 2nd -4th.

[Samantha]

As much as I like Max & Ruby, I'm starting to come to a limit. This book was nice...it had nice illustrations, but Ruby is really getting on my nerves. If you don't want Max to touch something (which he probably will, & you probably don't want him to), then put it out of reach, PROBLEM SOLVED.

Ruby should now well enough about her brother by now to predict what he's gonna do when she tells him not to...sadly, I was disappointed when there wasn't a little picture at the end of Max opening the box. The book felt ridiculously incomplete considering Max always does what he's not supposed to...I don't want him to learn his lesson, because he's my favorite character. Ruby...doesn't really matter to me. Also...Pandora's Box is a Greek myth, so where in the world do the Mexican jumping weevils come from? Mexico didn't even exist back when this story was originally told. =|

[Dolly]

This is an interesting take on the classic Greek mythology tale about Pandora. The narrative is short and the illustrations are as adorable as we've come to expect from Rosemary Wells. The story is quite different, but has the same basic message and is in a format that children will easily understand. We've been on a bit of a Greek mythology kick over the last year, reading a lot of different stories from various authors. I like that this book introduces the myths to young children. We enjoyed reading this book together.

[Hailey]

This book is about the loved characters Max and Ruby. Ruby hangs up a sign on her room telling Max "No" to say he can't come in. Max can't read so he still goes in Ruby's room. Ruby sits Max down and reads him the story of Pandora and her box. Pandora wasn't supposed to open the box in her story but she did and their were consequences.
I really like this book because it brings in Pandora unlike just making up a fiction story. It tells part of Greek culture.
I would have this in my room on my library shelf. If we did a project on other countries, this could be a book that could interest students in Greece.

[Maddie Taylor]

Max and Ruby are brother and sister. Ruby puts a sign on her door that reads, "No. That means you!" She comes home to find Max in her room and sit him down and reads his a story to try and teach him a lesson. She tells him a story of a girl named Pandora and how she was tempted to snoop in her mother's jewelry box! The consequences might teach Max to mind the word, "No!"

This is such a cute quick little read! The illustrations are wonderful and I throughly enjoyed this book!I will definitely used this book in my classroom one day! I think it is very appropriate!

[Jennifer Heise]

Oh, Ruby. Somehow I doubt telling your version of Pandora's Box to Max will every persuade him not to obey your "No! This Means You!" sign. But as a recovering older sister of brothers, I can't help enjoying the push-pull of Ruby's bossyness and Max's recalcitrant inventiveness; and I like the humor in Well's retelling of Pandora as a little girl forbidden to touch her mother's jewelry box. Of course, Max doesn't quite get the point, but would you expect anything else?

[Alexandria K]

I love Max and Ruby. In this story Max wants to see want is in Ruby's special jewelry box. But Max isn't aloud to. So Ruby tells him the story of Pandora. Pandora's Box Max knows to read and Ruby asks him what the sign says Max answers. "No" "Right Max." and she asks and what does it mean. "You." Says Max. And shuts the door.

[Rebecca]

This is such a wickedly clever book, packed with playful references to ancient Greek myth. Manages that most difficult of tasks: delights both the child being read to, and the adult doing the reading. Wells manages to build layers of complexity into the narrative. The amphora-shaped sprinkler was a particular delight, as was the reference to the movies.

[Suzanne]

This book was odd. It started and ended pretty abruptly. It could have been cute but was not so much.

[Kathy]

An attempt at telling about pandora's box but it's too short to pull it off.

[Annette]

This was a little more clever than "Midas" but is not faithful to the myth and still just does not quite work for me.

[Eastofoz]

The myth of Pandora retold through Max and Ruby.

[Hugh]

It wasn't as good as the show.

[Camila Facundo]

The myth is told in a nice and kid-friendly way, I just don't like the girl being rewarded for misbehaving, not sure if kids will get the right idea on how to act...

[Patricia]

In this story, Ruby is trying to dissuade Max from entering her room and so she tells him the story of Pandora's Box. It was enjoyable.

This is a 2.6AR Level book.

[Megan]

Oh, Natalie. Why do you love Max and Ruby so? I suppose this is a cute introduction to the Pandora's Box myth. Natalie loved it.

[Elaine]

Love it!

[mairead!]

This made me feel really good re the baking a cake book being the one to stick with.

[Scott]

I'm not why our girls like this book!