Not only does April Martin share her name with a month of the year, but she’s on a mission to teach kids what occurs in that month as well as the 11 others.
It’s an initiative in publishing a catalogue of books, each dedicated to one month.
With this, students are educated about the weather, holidays, and events in January all the way to December.
Martin, a Plant City High School graduate, has worked as a teacher in multiple schools. However, she realized that there was little to no school material that focused mainly on each month of the year, and what takes place in each.
As a first-grade teacher, every morning she would have “calendar time” which helped her students familiarize themselves with each day. While she incorporated that into her curriculum, she wanted to hone in on the months, which she felt were as important a subject as any other.
“That’s primarily what I wanted to write for,” explained Martin. “It’s for teachers to have a particular resource in the classroom to read to their kids.”
And as a mother herself, she encourages parents to do the same.
Her first published book is dedicated to the month that kicks off a new year and is entitled Meet January.
January is a girl whose characteristics are associated with that month. She’s always cold and her hair is frozen solid. On the first day back to school, she prefers to stay in bed and keep warm, but winter break is over. She’s feeling kind of blue, but her friends help to perk her up.
Every book has a character that is named after a month and its attributes are associated with holidays: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Groundhogs Day, and New Year’s Day, to name several.
It’s also meant to help kids learn geography as well as distinguish between different climates.
And students can also keep track of special occasions like anniversaries and birthdays.
Meet January has pages in the book where kids can write those memorable days and other additional information that is meaningful to them.
Martin has adopted this teaching method to help students understand the significance of the months, and what to expect in each. These books are catered to students from preschool to second-grade.
Although she didn’t consider herself to be an artist, she decided she was going to illustrate the graphics for the book. She went on YouTube, watched tutorials, and finished drawing Meet January in eight weeks.
“I took that experience and love for reading funny books when I wrote my book,” said Martin. “I wanted to include some silly parts that would make kids giggle. I definitely want it to not only be just educational, but memorable.”
The character February will have a hair bun in the shape of a heart, recognizing Valentine’s Day.
And December will have a Christmas Tree-shaped hair-do.
As for April, her hair will be similar to rain.
Not to mention that each character will be accompanied with their own pet.
The idea for Meet January was 13 years in the making, yet when she finally started to write it, the process didn’t take as long.
“I had the storyline in my head forever, constantly thinking about what the story would be like,” said Martin. “I sat down and I wrote the book – start to finish, in no more than 30 minutes. It just came spewing out.”
She developed an interest in writing as she worked for the school newspaper and helped put together the school yearbook.
However, she didn’t consider turning it into a career.
Martin contemplated nursing but ultimately obtained a degree in psychology.
She eventually settled on becoming an educator because of her love for kids. She taught in Tampa as well as North Carolina.
What Martin felt was lacking in classrooms was what sparked the idea for teaching all 12 months. Being named April also inspired this shift, she explained.
The next books will not come out in chronological order of the months, but will be based on which Martin feels most confident about.
She has her eyes set on June.
After she wraps up her series for the months, she plans on writing books for upper grade kids and ones with short chapters.
She hopes that this learning material will span for generations.
“I would love for my books to stick around for years and years,” said Martin. “Hopefully these first 12 will definitely be something that families can pass down. I would love for that to happen.”
To learn more about, or to purchase Meet January, visit www.CalendarKidsBooks.com.