Every week, each of my three children picks out two books from the school library. That’s six books a week for me to keep track of (in addition to our town library books), and I pride myself on not misplacing any.

I had a feeling that this would not last forever, and I was right. One of my twins checked out Max & Mo Go Apple Picking at the beginning of the year. It disappeared, and I was fairly sure that it had accidentally been recycled with some school papers. The lovely school librarian was very gracious about replacing it, but a couple of weeks ago, I accepted that the book was gone forever. I purchased a replacement copy of the book, and when I gave it to the school librarian, she told me that the missing book was going to turn up.

I didn’t think it was likely; remember, I was fairly confident that it had been recycled.

Well, I was wrong. Over the weekend, the twins came prancing into the room and presented the missing book to me. They have Kura loft beds from Ikea, and apparently, the missing book and a second book that I didn’t even realize was missing were both behind a chair in the space under the loft bed.

Max & Mo Go Apple Picking is a Level 1 “Ready-To-Read” book. This is part of a series featuring the same characters.

Max and Mo are hamsters in a classroom. They are tired of eating corn, and when they see a sign about apple picking, they are very excited. They sneak out of their cage, and get a chance to do some “apple picking” and applesauce tasting of their own. They even make apple prints!

This book is intended for beginning readers. Hallmarks of Level 1 include: “Word repetition, familiar words and phrases, and simple sentences.”

“They watched. Apples got cut. Apples got cooked. And apple bits dropped.”

The book also includes instructions for making apple prints, and a recipe for making applesauce. The recipe is easy for children to follow with easy-to-follow steps like “WASH” and “CUT”. Of course, this is all supposed to be done with adult supervision.

The illustrations are cute.   Max and Mo are very funny, and my daughter liked seeing them working together and scrambling around the classroom. They managed to get into quite a bit of mischief!

I would recommend Max & Mo Go Apple Picking. This would be a wonderful book to read at any point in the year, but it would be especially relevant in the fall when many families go apple picking.  Max & Mo is a fun series of easy reader books, and this seems like such a fun way to practice those emerging reading skills!