Chatting About Books:
Recommendations for Young Readers

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Episode 2—Playful Poetry Books to Share

Book Chat

• You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman; illustrated by Michael Emberley (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2001)
  This book is a collection of 13 short stories in rhyme/verse form that are meant to be read aloud by two voices. The fun thing about this book is that each poem is color-coded with three different colors to signal whose turn it is to read and when readers should read together.
  
  Other books for two voices by Mary Ann Hoberman include  
  
  • You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2004)
  • You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Mother Goose Tales to Read Together (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2005)
  • You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007)
  
  
  
• From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems/Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano by Francisco X. Alarcόn; illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Children’s Book Press, 2005)

This is a collection of summer poems that are written in both English and Spanish.  Alarcόn masterfully captures the spirit and playfulness of summer in his poems that are both succinct and full of vivid imagery.
• Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (Harper Trophy, 2001)

Jack, the narrator of the story, is not impressed that his teacher is asking the class to learn about and write poetry. But, as Jack reads more poetry and begins to experiment with writing his own poetry, he finds his voice and learns that poems aren’t just for girls. Love That Dog is a short and simple narrative with a strong voice and a character that kids will relate to.

Cookies and Milk
Veronica, Terriza, Timmy, and Fabien enjoy chocolaty cookies while chatting with Emily about the books above. Like Jack in Love That Dog, the kids were initially a little hesitant about reading poetry but the books listed above quickly won them over. The family plans to read more poetry books together in the future.

About the Host

Emily Manning started teaching first grade in 1999 and is now a reading intervention teacher for third- through fifth-graders. Emily’s passion is reading; she enjoys the challenge each year of finding books that will spark the love of reading in her students. Emily’s favorite books are the ones kids ask to read over and over — the ones that are worn out from so many readings, complete with wrinkled pages and loose bindings.

These include

• Bubba the Cowboy Prince by Helen Ketteman (Scholastic, 1997)
• Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh (Yearling, 2001)
• The Jazz Fly by Matthew Gollub (Tortuga, 2000)
• The Magical, Marvelous, Mystical Coat by Catherine Ann Cullen (Little, Brown, 2001)
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (Puffin, 2004)