Easy Reader Series Series: April & Mae

I love a good Days of the Week series—and I like Megan Dowd Lambert’s work on the Whole Book approach, so finding this new easy reader series was a real treat! April and Mae are two best friends with a dog and cat who are best friends, and each day they have their routine or do something together, and that’s the book! They do routine things like sleepovers and book club, and try new things like a talent show and supporting an animal shelter. The book focuses primarily on “April likes x, Mae does not” opposites and differences, and builds in social emotional learning opportunities, including repairing friendships, trying new things, taking safe risks, fixing mistakes, and more. They are probably closer to a level 3 in the easy reader world–a little longer, with more words per page, but not too narrativized within each page. Short sentences wiht lots of sight words, but still a compelling friendship to follow. There’s some humor built into it, but it’s not laugh out loud funny for the most part–just a genuine, wholesome friendship between two girls!Oh, and we never see their parents, which makes it fun for kids. Very Max and Ruby-esque, haha. Let’s dive into each day.

The Sunday Book: April & Mae and the Tea Party

In this introduction, we meet two friends, April and Mae, who are not alike. One likes to perform, one does not. One has a cat, the other a dog. One is also Black and the other white, but that is not called out explicitly as a difference. Unfortunately, at one of their Sunday tea parties, April tries to juggle, breaks a teacup, and the friendship is fractured. Through letter writing, gift giving, and acknowledgement of the wrongs in a very SEL way, the friendship is repaired and they are back to their usual Sunday routines.

The Monday Book: April & Mae and the Book Club Cake

The girls’ Monday routine of bringing a cake to book club is interrupted because Mae has not finished the book, or made her cake! To accommodate, April reads aloud to her while she bakes–the power of a good storyteller and showing modeling for how reading aloud is important in lots of places and dynamics. Unfortunately, they forgot to put flour in the cake…but that’s no problem when they can just cover it up with berries and cream and create a new dessert. This book demonstrates problem solving and two types of readers both able to enjoy the same book.

The Tuesday Book: April & Mae and the Soccer Match

On Tuesdays, we do sports. Mae plays soccer and April cheers her on, but when the field is muddy, winning is not in the cards, and covered in mud, Mae feels down. April tries to cheer her up in a multitude of ways, but at the end of the day, they realize their friendship is the best part of it all–win or lose.

The Wednesday Book: April & Mae and the Talent Show

April and Mae have different talent. April loves to do music, and Mae art. When there’s a local talent show to raise money for the library to buy new books, Mae makes the posters, while April performs, but of course she needs the power of friendship to help her make the show a success.

The Thursday Book: April & Mae and the Animal Shelter

April and Mae decide to use their respective talents and interests to help the animal shelter in town, especially since their pets are so important to them. Mae decides to make and sell lemonade to buy cat food for the shelter, and April writes letters in the newspaper to encourage people to adopt dogs. Through this, they learn that it’s hard to feel like you’re making a huge impact, but you can do little things and they add up to big things.

The Friday Book: April & Mae and the Sleepover

On Friday nights, April and Mae have a sleepover. This week, April wants to camp out in her backyard–tent and all. Mae is less sure of this, but April goes out of her way to make the experience comfortable for Mae, and Mae decides to make a special breakfast to celebrate April the next morning.

The Saturday Book: April & Mae and the Movie Night

On Saturday, the girls have a movie nigh, but the scary movie is too much for April, and she needs to go to the kitchen. Mae loves it though! It’s a humorous example of trying new things for your friends, sticking to what you like, and finding common ground in cookies.