Maxwell “Max” Johnson knows something about you. Maybe you know it, too. Maybe not. Either way, Max wants you to know this:
You are smart.
He’s so sure you are that he wrote a book about it.
Published last December, “Let Me Help You … BE SMART: A Kid’s Guide to Confidence, Focus, and Smart Choices” is a self-esteem book aimed at children ages 8-13 and is available on Amazon.
“My goal is that every reader finishes this book feeling more confident, more smart, and more prepared for life,” Max said.
Max, 14, lives with his family in Lake Mary. He and his younger brother, Gavin, 11, receive Florida education choice scholarships managed by Step Up For Students, which their father, Stephen, said has put them in environments that allow them to succeed.
“Their ideas and their ability to learn at a high level are because of Step Up,” Stephen said.
Max, who once attended a private school, is home-educated, learning both at home and through a hybrid program at a private school, which he attends two days a week. His Education Savings Account covers both his home-education curriculum and a portion of his tuition for the private school.
“The Step Up scholarship is important to us, because Max was an honor roll student in private school and takes honors courses now, but because of his desire for entrepreneurship, the scholarship works better for him, because he can still do things like get into business, work on his books, and also find school a priority,” Stephen said.
“I love the fact that he still participates in school, still has school relationships, still goes and gets a dose of school, but also gets to come home and focus on the things that he really cares about.”
Gavin attends a private school.
“We like that environment for Gavin,” Stephen said. “He loves a full day, and it's cool for him to go to school. He comes home, and then when he has time, he works on his stuff, maybe on the weekends. So, the week is all about school. The weekend is his time to do other things. I just want him to focus on school, do everything else on the weekend.”
Like Max, Gavin is also a published author.
“Gavin The Kid Explorer: My Big Trip to Washington, D.C.” is a travel guide for children ages 4-9 and is available on Amazon.
“These kids, they're fearless. I love it,” Stephen said. “They really believe that they can do anything. They believed they could write a book, and then they actually did it.”
Belief is a big part of the brother’s makeup.
Stephen works in video production for a motivational speaker, and their mom, Erin, is an entrepreneur who started her own cleaning service as a college sophomore.
As long as they can remember, the boys have joined their parents at motivational seminars. Those forums are for adults, but Max was able to take what he learned and translate it into messages children can understand.
When he was 8, Max made motivational wristbands for his peers that contained messages like “You can do it,” “You’re smart,” and “I’m a winner.”
Max keeps a journal where he wrote about how he sometimes felt in school. There were times when he didn’t understand the lesson. Other times, he felt confused.
Sometimes he didn’t feel smart.
The success of his wristbands taught him that his confusion and lack of self-esteem are normal parts of growing up. He began to address those in his journal, which in turn started to read more like a self-help book than a diary.
And just like the motivational messages he heard when his dad was working, Max felt he needed to share his message.
“The reason why I wrote this book is because I wanted to help kids learn lessons that they don't really learn in school, things like making smart decisions, working hard, treating people with respect, managing money, and building good habits,” Max said. “I wanted a book that was under 100 pages for young people to understand, but powerful enough that they can use the lessons for the rest of their lives.
“I wanted to show them that, really, they are smart. Anyone can be smart. It depends on how you think about yourself.”
Meanwhile, Gavin took notes during a family trip to Washington, D.C., with the idea of turning it into a book. This way, he could bring young readers along on his adventure. He detailed each place they visited, sites like the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian, the Jefferson Memorial, and added three notes of interest for each.
Erin and Stephen turned the journals into books and presented them to the boys on Christmas morning.
“Surprised and amazed” is how Gavin described the feeling of seeing his journal become a book.
He was even more surprised and more amazed when his book was mass-produced and made available on Amazon. Within a week, it was Amazon’s top-selling travel guide.
“I love motivating kids and teaching them things that they haven't thought of before,” Gavin said. “It's so fun and surprising that they love the topics that I choose, like traveling to D.C., and they love the character that I picked and how I illustrated the book.”
Max’s book reached No. 3 on Amazon’s list of social skills books.
“That was just surreal,” Max said.
He’s currently finishing his second book, which addresses confidence. It is set to be released Nov. 27 -- Black Friday.
Gavin is hard at work on his second, as well – a travel guide of New York City.
The brothers spent part of their summer promoting their books and speaking at camps around Central Florida. It’s a prelude to what they hope to be doing as adults – motivational speaking.
“I feel so empowered,” Max said. “I feel I can empower kids to become better versions of themselves, and then they can pass it on for generations.”
