Small Readers: Emma every day: Crazy for apples by C. L. Reid, illustrated by Elena Aiello

Easy readers are often overlooked in the search for diverse materials, which may be one reason why there just isn't much in that arena. However, those who specialize here should be familiar with Capstone Publishing, specifically their Picture Window imprint, which specializes in intermediate easy readers focusing on a wide variety of diverse characters, from ethnicity to disability.

This new series, Emma Every Day, presents a brown-haired white girl who is Deaf. She uses both sign language and a cochlear implant. The book opens with an introduction to the characters - Emma's parents and older brother, her best friend Izzy (Black), and her pet goldfish. She likes lots of typical 8 year old things, like reading and swimming. There's a manual alphabet for fingerspelling and a simple description of Emma as Deaf and using ASL and a Cl, both of which are written out.

The story is very simple, focusing on Emma and Izzy taking a trip with Emma's dad to the apple orchard. They learn that Farmer Bell has a daughter who is Deaf, pick apples, ride the wagon, and then there is a little confusion when their apples are spilled and spoilt and the Farmer says Candy will fix it - who turns out to be his daughter! The story includes several words in fingerspelling, and at the end there are some additional signs used in the book. There's a glossary and some discussion and writing questions.

One notable thing about Capstone's diverse offerings is their dedication to own voices. The author and illustrator bios at the back introduce C. L. Reid as a Deaf person, who uses both ASL and a Cl.

This is a higher level easy reader, 490 on the lexile scale, which would make it intermediate for my collection. It would appeal to readers who like other titles in this imprint, like Katie Woo, Sofia Martinez, and Pedro. Personally, I find them rather bland (except Sofia, which is quite funny), but a lot of kids like these simple, comforting slice-of-life stories.

Verdict: I'm excited to see Capstone branching out into disabilities as well as ethnic diversity. We have a large, historic school for the Deaf in the neighboring town and quite a few kids in my town are interested in sign language and learn it to talk with friends, so this will be very popular in my library.

ISBN: 9781515871828; Published 2020 by Picture Window/Capstone; Borrowed from another library in my consortium