About Us
About Christine Gonzalez
With over 45 years of experience as a K-12 special education public school teacher, Christine is a firm believer in the efficacy of the Science of Reading (SOR). She readily joined her friend Kath to fill a notable void in decodable, paired-reading text for foundational readers. Using her Wilson Level 1 & 2 training and in-depth experience, Max and Friends was created. Christine believes the fun, decodable, paired-reading series will motivate beginning readers to practice fluency, a SOR standard. She re-centers by spending time with her family, working in the garden, cooking, and playing with her Norwich terrier, Lucy.
About Kathryn Reilly
Kath was a teacher for over 30 years. As a Kindergarten and third-grade teacher, Kath’s primary interest was in reading. During her years as a special education teacher, she continually sought out the most effective reading interventions for her students. After retirement, Kath’s goal was to learn all she could about linguistic phonics (speech to print) and to begin tutoring two young family members with dyslexia. Looking for additional ways to motivate her reluctant readers, Kath started to cut and paste decodable readers into a buddy reading format. The young students loved the books and asked for more! As a result, together with her friend, Christine, the Max and Friends Decodable Buddy Readers Series was launched! When she’s not thinking about reading, Kath enjoys spending time with her family, friends and her three little “Max” dogs.