What do you think?
Rate this book
Craftily Ever After #1
The Un-Friendship Bracelet (1)
In the first book of the Craftily Ever After chapter book series, a new student gets between best friends Emily and Maddie—and changes the meaning of their friendship bracelets!
Emily Adams, Maddie Wilson, Bella Diaz, and Sam Sharma are eight-year-olds with one special thing in common: they love to create. They each have unique talents, too! Emily is great at constructing and building; Maddie has an eye for fashion, fabrics, and sewing; Bella is a gadget whiz; and Sam is a gifted artist. Together, these four crafty friends dream up new projects to design, build, and create and through their experiences, they’ll learn how to handle various obstacles at school and in their everyday eight-year-old lives.
In the first Craftily Ever After book, best friends Emily and Maddie are so close that they spend most of their free time together, and wear matching friendship bracelets, too! One day, a new student named Bella Diaz shows up at Mason Creek Elementary. Maddie immediately befriends her, discovering that she too is really crafty. As Maddie and Bella spend more time together, Emily finds herself spending more time alone…until she realizes that the boy who’s been sitting next to her in class this whole time loves to draw and create just like she does. When Emily’s friendship bracelet falls off and Maddie doesn’t even notice, Emily begins to think that maybe it was an un-friendship bracelet after all.
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Craftily Ever After chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.
Emily Adams, Maddie Wilson, Bella Diaz, and Sam Sharma are eight-year-olds with one special thing in common: they love to create. They each have unique talents, too! Emily is great at constructing and building; Maddie has an eye for fashion, fabrics, and sewing; Bella is a gadget whiz; and Sam is a gifted artist. Together, these four crafty friends dream up new projects to design, build, and create and through their experiences, they’ll learn how to handle various obstacles at school and in their everyday eight-year-old lives.
In the first Craftily Ever After book, best friends Emily and Maddie are so close that they spend most of their free time together, and wear matching friendship bracelets, too! One day, a new student named Bella Diaz shows up at Mason Creek Elementary. Maddie immediately befriends her, discovering that she too is really crafty. As Maddie and Bella spend more time together, Emily finds herself spending more time alone…until she realizes that the boy who’s been sitting next to her in class this whole time loves to draw and create just like she does. When Emily’s friendship bracelet falls off and Maddie doesn’t even notice, Emily begins to think that maybe it was an un-friendship bracelet after all.
With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Craftily Ever After chapter books are perfect for emerging readers.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 27, 2018
5 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
January 7, 2021
A pleasant surprise! It goes beyond the run-of-the-mill BFF misunderstandings and subsequent "drama" into something a little deeper and I appreciate the emphasis on communication and never assuming someone else magically knows what you are thinking or feeling. Also really appreciate the cast of characters (diverse without trying too hard to be). I do think the cover art missed the mark because it looks very "girl book" and yet there's a boy character (Sam Sharma) who plays a key role and it's clear by the end of the book that he will feature (along with the three girls) in subsequent books. Bonus points for showing that crafts are not always just "artsy" but can also be STEM-related -- and that children can be equally interested in both! Both my children (five and seven) enjoyed this as a family read-aloud and we plan to continue with the series. If you're interested in books like this with more of a STEM focus, consider the Zoey and Sassafras series by Asia Citro. If the premise sounds good but you need something slightly older, consider the middle grade series Ellie, Engineer.
June 20, 2019
"Craftily Ever After" is one of those series that would compel you to finish off all its installments as soon as you read the first one. It didn't take a long time for me to get hooked to the book. Emily and Maddie are portrayed as two eight-year-olds whose love for each other know no bounds. While Maddie is an absolute Fashionista, Emily is more into constructing and building (birdhouse, etc,) But a rift arises between them when Bella Diaz shows up at their school. As days pass, Maddie shifts her attention towards the new entrant and on the other hand, Emily finds it hard to digest the fact that her BFF is no longer spending enough time with her. Will the two once-inseparable friends stay apart forever or will the rift between them get resolved? It's for you readers to find out.
The illustrations were so cute (particularly that of Emily). It was heartwrenching to see the sketches of her in a sullen mood. I literally crossed my fingers and hoped for the reunion of the two friends to happen in the subsequent chapters.
The illustrations were so cute (particularly that of Emily). It was heartwrenching to see the sketches of her in a sullen mood. I literally crossed my fingers and hoped for the reunion of the two friends to happen in the subsequent chapters.
May 3, 2018
It’s the start of a wonderful friendship and a wonderful new series that seems inspired by the huge new Makerspace movement in libraries around America. Four children bond over their connections with making things, and friendships are created and almost broken and rebuilt. The reading level is perfect for those strong first graders and second graders, with lots of pictures to help carry them through the story.
June 18, 2018
This book was recommend to me by my 9 year-old son, so it already comes with high kudos.Emily and Maddie are best friends. They do everything together, even crafting. They each wear a friendship bracelet the other friend made as a sign of their true friendship, or Mad-ily, as they call it. One school day a new student arrives and is assigned to Maddie as a buddy. At first, Emily is okay with things, but as Maddie and Bella grow closer, Emily feels left out. Then, during soccer, Emily loses her friendship bracelet, and she thinks it is a sign of their new un-friendship.
Back at school, Emily begins spending time with Sam, a boy who loves to paint and draw. He tells her to tell Maddie how she feels about being left out. And she would too, but that day, Maddie stays home sick, and Emily ends up spending time with Bella. Turns out she's pretty neat. She has an old work shed behind her new house that she hopes her parents will let her turn into a clubhouse. Together, Emily, Maddie, Bella and Sam end up converting the shed into a craft club where they all have a space to do the special things they love.
My Thoughts-
Great, basic story about friendship at a middle grade level. There are no big surprises to the plot, but it is a good story that kids will enjoy. Both Emily and Maddie love crafts, and at the end of the book there are instructions, easy to follow, that kids can do to make their own friendship bracelets.
I particularly liked that Sam is a character. It is not only girls who love to craft, and by including Sam into the mix, the book is opened up to be a good read for both boys and girls. One critique about the story though, about halfway through the story the author switches for one chapter only, from Emily's POV to Bella's POV. In my opinion, that is a mistake that shouldn't be made.
Overall, a cute and readable story about friendship and personalities. I'm giving it 3.5 stars, Though my 9 year old gives it 5, lol.
Back at school, Emily begins spending time with Sam, a boy who loves to paint and draw. He tells her to tell Maddie how she feels about being left out. And she would too, but that day, Maddie stays home sick, and Emily ends up spending time with Bella. Turns out she's pretty neat. She has an old work shed behind her new house that she hopes her parents will let her turn into a clubhouse. Together, Emily, Maddie, Bella and Sam end up converting the shed into a craft club where they all have a space to do the special things they love.
My Thoughts-
Great, basic story about friendship at a middle grade level. There are no big surprises to the plot, but it is a good story that kids will enjoy. Both Emily and Maddie love crafts, and at the end of the book there are instructions, easy to follow, that kids can do to make their own friendship bracelets.
I particularly liked that Sam is a character. It is not only girls who love to craft, and by including Sam into the mix, the book is opened up to be a good read for both boys and girls. One critique about the story though, about halfway through the story the author switches for one chapter only, from Emily's POV to Bella's POV. In my opinion, that is a mistake that shouldn't be made.
Overall, a cute and readable story about friendship and personalities. I'm giving it 3.5 stars, Though my 9 year old gives it 5, lol.
April 2, 2018
A good beginning chapter book for readers to begin more challenging text and stamina. Perfect for libraries who need chapter books for young readers and third gradeish readers who need a lot of support.
August 18, 2019
Super cute! For young makers who like friendship stories!
September 12, 2021
This is book one. It is the right book for emerging readers who don't want any drama. It's full of cute. If your child is going to read this and forget about it two books down the line, then definitely pull this out of the library and encourage them to zip through the whole series. We always need light reading material to get kids hooked. Think Bobbsey Twins without the adventure.
If you want a better quality book for your reader or are looking for a mentor text on how to write a chapter book, then perhaps you should read on to see my extremely picky and somewhat negative details about this book. So to start, this book does what a first-book-in-a-series does, it introduces the characters and sets up a premise. The author is heavily published in several categories, but the writing in this book felt lackluster and rushed. There were vocab words above grade level with no context. And not interesting or character-related words, just some descriptors. The characters are pretty flat and very flawless. Every one of the four kids has the same voice. The plot points which are supposed to create a little drama don't actually drive the story in any way. It reminds me of the not-a-story from the first few chapters of Steven James's book "Story Trumps Structure." One character feels sad because of a misunderstanding. Her friend tells her to talk to the person about it. She does. The recipient says, "that's what I figured you were thinking. It's okay." There's almost a surreal quality to the world-building. The kids' parents don't really appear and these very young children do a lot of grown up stuff with no adults in sight. When they totally clean and organize a decrepit old shed and transform it into a workshop, they even begin to talk like adults. The timeline is very jumpy and really extended. So I guess the book generally does all the things the how-to gurus say not to do and still gets onto shelves. There is nothing wrong with this book, generally speaking. My kids and I simply like a bit more meat between the covers of the books we read. The illustrations are very cute, but a gain, felt a little rushed. There were some glaring discrepancies and some repetitive images.
If it inspires even one kid to be more creative, it's worth every average word.
If you want a better quality book for your reader or are looking for a mentor text on how to write a chapter book, then perhaps you should read on to see my extremely picky and somewhat negative details about this book. So to start, this book does what a first-book-in-a-series does, it introduces the characters and sets up a premise. The author is heavily published in several categories, but the writing in this book felt lackluster and rushed. There were vocab words above grade level with no context. And not interesting or character-related words, just some descriptors. The characters are pretty flat and very flawless. Every one of the four kids has the same voice. The plot points which are supposed to create a little drama don't actually drive the story in any way. It reminds me of the not-a-story from the first few chapters of Steven James's book "Story Trumps Structure." One character feels sad because of a misunderstanding. Her friend tells her to talk to the person about it. She does. The recipient says, "that's what I figured you were thinking. It's okay." There's almost a surreal quality to the world-building. The kids' parents don't really appear and these very young children do a lot of grown up stuff with no adults in sight. When they totally clean and organize a decrepit old shed and transform it into a workshop, they even begin to talk like adults. The timeline is very jumpy and really extended. So I guess the book generally does all the things the how-to gurus say not to do and still gets onto shelves. There is nothing wrong with this book, generally speaking. My kids and I simply like a bit more meat between the covers of the books we read. The illustrations are very cute, but a gain, felt a little rushed. There were some glaring discrepancies and some repetitive images.
If it inspires even one kid to be more creative, it's worth every average word.
August 21, 2019
I purchased the set of Craftily Ever After books (the first 4 books) for my 7-year-old daughter. This is just such a wonderfully written chapter book for children who are getting into more advanced reading. I chose this set because it dives deeper into creativity and problem solving than most books I have seen for young girls- and is still something she will want to pick up and read. My daughter is normally drawn to books with unicorns and narwhals and all that fun stuff- but I wanted her to also find a good story in reading a book that inspires her in the real world, also! So far, we have read 3 of the books together. I really do love this set. It presents each character as having their own unique skill set that will come together to solve a problem or develop a new product. At the end of the book, the author has provided an instructable for how the reader can complete the same/similar project. Highly recommend these books!
June 19, 2019
This was a nice little story about two best friends who like to craft things. This was pretty good for middle grade, if tooth achingly sweet. The illustrations were gorgeous. I liked that each person had their own interests and they worked together to share their hobbies. I was expecting a lot more detail than what was there but I did like that the friendship bracelet instructions were included in the back. The drama was easily resolved and there were good rational solutions suggested to solve it - like TALKING to ONE ANOTHER to TELL EACH OTHER HOW YOU FEEL. God knows it's been awhile since I've read something so logical. I'll probably pick up the rest of the series at some point. They're short and easy to read. 3 stars for me. 4 for target audience.
December 30, 2021
I gave my six-year-old daughter an omnibus of the first four books in this series, and we've been reading them together.
This is a cute story about a pair of friends that go through some growing pains when a new girl joins their class. It contains low-level drama alongside themes of friendship, honesty, and inclusion. It's a nice beginning to a charming collection of stories about four kids who like to get crafty together.
The best part is that my daughter can read most of it by herself. She needs me to help with some of the longer/tricky words, but most of the vocabulary is simple enough for her to understand what is going on. There are also black and white illustrations on every page, which keeps her interested and helps with comprehension.
This is a cute story about a pair of friends that go through some growing pains when a new girl joins their class. It contains low-level drama alongside themes of friendship, honesty, and inclusion. It's a nice beginning to a charming collection of stories about four kids who like to get crafty together.
The best part is that my daughter can read most of it by herself. She needs me to help with some of the longer/tricky words, but most of the vocabulary is simple enough for her to understand what is going on. There are also black and white illustrations on every page, which keeps her interested and helps with comprehension.
June 16, 2020
This is a pretty straightforward friendship tale, but I really enjoyed the diversity and characterization. The message that "crafting" is just turning your creative ideas into reality is very sweet and encourages kids to find the unique creativity in their friends rather than grouping over shared hobbies. I was also glad that the friend group included both boys and girls, and that the distribution of skills was equally diverse and unexpected. Overall this is a great little cast with a sweet origin story, and I'm excited to see their further adventures.
December 30, 2019
Sweet, creativity and friendship-themed beginning chapter book. Good use of illustrations and white space to encourage new chapter book readers. Friendship issues were solved and maker-themed activities encouraged. The writing was a bit basic, but it should have good appeal and is a fast read. I can imagine readers will want to continue with the others in the series. I liked the diversity of characters and the inclusion of a boy in the friendship group. Would recommend for this age group!
January 11, 2019
I wish I had read a book like this as a kid. Not only does it inspire creativity but communication amongst friends as well. I found the friends having items built that were way beyond their abilities unrealistic but it also makes sense within the story where the kids could do anything they set their minds too. However, it would have been nice to see the parents help the kids out.
January 25, 2019
This was a sweet little book that I picked up from the library for my seven year old to read. It involves crafting of various kinds as well as navigating changes in friendships. The illustrations were a lot of fun and the story was engaging. My favorite character was Emily, a bespectacled redhead who experienced uncertainty and was finally able to express her feelings.
January 1, 2023
What is it about this early readers that just know how to pack a punch? They have stem! They have SEL! They have problem-solving pertaining to both stem and sel! It’s FANTASTIC. And this one was great! It’s great for kids to read and see how they can have healthy communication while also validating their feelings.
September 14, 2017
This book is a sweet tale of learning how to share your friends and make new ones too.
Turn-ons: crafting, kids being creative, kids being inclusive, kids communicating about their feelings, bonus friendship bracelet lesson.
Turn-ons: crafting, kids being creative, kids being inclusive, kids communicating about their feelings, bonus friendship bracelet lesson.
May 4, 2018
Such a cute story for kids!! I saw this at the library and needed to get it. It was very short with huge font but still super cute! I loved the illustrations throughout the book! Cannot wait to see the next one.
June 7, 2018
A gentle story about friendship, with minor conflicts and happy resolutions, all sitting on a foundation of aspirational diversity. It could have come across as just too sweet, but somehow it doesn't. A positive story all around.
June 22, 2018
Cute chapter book with illustrations throughout - perfect for kids who are transitioning out of beginning readers. Four diverse friends transform an old shed into a crafting studio. The end of the book includes instructions and diagrams for how to make a friendship bracelet.
January 19, 2020
I think this was a great book because it teaches anyone who reads it a lesson that you should always speak up when you are feeling left out. When you read it, you know always speak up when younare feeling left out.
August 13, 2020
Vänskap är inte lätt och när en ny vän kommer in i gruppen är det lätt att bli bortglömd eller iallafall få den känslan. Viktigt att inkludera varandra och berätta hur man känner gentemot varandra. Kul grupp ändå, två bästisar skaffar sig nya kreativa kompisar.
September 30, 2020
Read aloud to the younger kids. Really great early reader chapter book with a fun group of characters working through real problems. So age appropriate for younger elementary, fun and clever, enjoyable to read.
December 16, 2022
This chapter book follows school girls as they navigate new friendships, tough feelings, and jealousy. It's an easy book to follow with a lot of powerful talking points. This would be a nice book to have for literature circles.
June 6, 2018
I liked it.
July 5, 2018
Cute book. On the girlie side. Basic plot-line about friendship, a misunderstanding, and making friendship bracelets
July 6, 2018
Cute friendship story
August 3, 2018
A topic that many students struggle with and need help to navigate successfully. This book offers a great solution that students will understand and give a try.
September 14, 2019
Cute children's book about four crafty kids coming together to make all sorts of arts, gadgets, and crafts. I dig it, children will too.
May 6, 2020
Super cute
September 13, 2020
Wonderful book about friendship. A cool book to add to your classroom library
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews