The Story Behind
the Revision

In March of 2005, after attending a docent training session for how to best take children through a Holocaust exhibit in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Gail soon found herself scanning the book titles lining her bookcases at home. Searching for something. What? — she wasn’t sure. Then, when she spotted her copy of David and Max, she began to understand.

“I flipped through the pages to get to the scene in which David asks Max to talk about what had happened to him when the Nazis stormed into Vilna. I read what Gary and I had written nearly twenty years ago. And in that moment I knew what I could do to help. I knew exactly what I could do. I could revise David and Max for today’s kids.”

In this post 9/11 world, Gail felt a sense of urgency. She understood that, for today's readers, Max’s story would resonate on a far deeper level than twenty years ago.

Because of its warm, entertaining tone, David and Max now offers parents and teachers a unique introductory tool to help their children sort through timely themes involving hatred and violence.

“The new edition of David and Max is for my grandchildren, Ruby and Sage, and all the children of the world. Children of every faith. At every age. It is for you.”

Read "The Return of David and Max," an article by James M. Bellarosa

Read about What has changed in David and Max

Read about the Original Version of David and Max