I think I must have read this, just once, and forgotten the title and author. When I read Cat Valente's The Glass Town Game (which is awesome) I kept having strange flashes of memory of another book, and the moment I read "Max" and "wooden soldiers" in this entry I thought, It's the Bronte children's set of soldiers and scholars want them. I'll have to track down a copy. It sounds like just my jam, even if it turns out I haven't read it before.

P.