Max is used to spending time alone - it's difficult to make friends in a big, chaotic school when you're deaf. He prefers to give his attention to the little things in life . . . like making awesome, detailed replica models.

Then Mr Darrow, the school caretaker and fellow modeller, goes missing. Max must follow his parting instruction: 'Go to my room. You'll know what to do.'

There on the floor he finds a pile of sand . . . and in the sand is Mr Darrow's latest creation . . . a tiny boy, no bigger than a raisin, Luke, Prince of the

Blues. And behind the tiny boy . . . millions of others - a thriving, bustling, sprawling civilization!