You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You

By Mary Ann Hoberman
Illustrated by Michael Emberley

You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You would be a wonderful poetry book to use with younger readers. The theme of the book is getting together to read. The short poems are designed to be read aloud by two voices. The text is color-coded and in two columns, so it is easy to distinguish the two reader’s voices, along with the text that is to be read together. The poems are simple, yet full of energy. The poetry in this book contains repetition and rhyme, which is great for beginning readers. Most importantly, these fun poems allow children to see that poetry doesn’t always have to be serious and that reading can be fun. The fact that these poems are for two voices encourages children to read aloud with their parent/teacher/friend, which helps build fluency and comprehension. I believe this would be a great book to introduce to children who do not enjoy reading or who are disinterested by poetry.