You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together

Mary Ann Hoberman's 'You Read to Me,I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together,' tries to get children involved in reading. To do this, the author has taken familiar children's stories-e.g. Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Goldilocks and the Three Bears- set them in clear language and definite rhymes, and rewritten the plots to make them, ultimately, tales of cooperation. The lines of verse are color-coded, so that one person will read a bit, then the other person will read a bit, and finally both people will read together.

In the book's preface the author indicates that, in writing this book, she mainly had in mind either two beginning readers: whether that be two children, or a child and an adult in a literacy program. (A portion of the proceeds from this book are being donated to the Literacy Volunteers of America.)

Fairy tale purists may have some problem with Little Red Riding Hood ending up reading with the Wolf-in fact, nothing terrible happens to any of the characters that appear here. The illustrations by Michael Emberley, while witty, seem designed not to get in the way. But neither deep psychological meaning nor impressive art is the point of this book. The important things here are the words and rhymes, drawing people into the reading process.

This book is an apt follow-up to the author's 'You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together.'