Max is going to a new kinder­garten. He likes his teacher and enjoys play­ing with the toys, but he is a bit intim­i­dat­ed by his new sur­round­ings and tries to cope cre­ative­ly. He wears a super­hero cos­tume to give him strength and spe­cial pow­ers in his new, unfa­mil­iar envi­ron­ment. One of his class­mates, David, seems like a tough guy and Max avoids him as much as he can.

Purim is approach­ing and the class lis­tens as the teacher tells the sto­ry of Megillat Esther. He hears about the brav­ery of Esther and Morde­cai and how they saved the Jew­ish peo­ple from evil Haman. They also talk about ways to cel­e­brate the hol­i­day includ­ing dress­ing in cos­tume. The chil­dren each choose a cos­tume but Max can’t decide what to wear. While Max is build­ing with blocks, a class­mate comes by to share and help. At first, Max can’t see the boy’s face because his cos­tume includes a hel­met that shields his face. But when it gets hot, the boy removes the hel­met and Max real­izes that he’s been hap­pi­ly play­ing with David all along. Max learns that he has his own spe­cial super­pow­ers, even when he is just being Max. He grows and builds his con­fi­dence, learn­ing from the Purim sto­ry while cel­e­brat­ing the hol­i­day with joy.

Col­or­ful art brings the sto­ry to life, show­ing a busy, active class­room and a friend­ly group of chil­dren hav­ing fun. An after­word tells the sto­ry of Purim in greater detail and teach­es more about hol­i­day cus­toms and obser­vances. It also points out the ways that Max has achieved his goals sim­ply by being him­self. Read­ers who have faced their own chal­lenges and also need a boost of con­fi­dence will iden­ti­fy with Max and the gen­tle lessons he learns about suc­ceed­ing just by being himself.