Poetry: You Read to Me, I'll Read to You

Hoberman, M. A. (2001). You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. New York: Megan Tingley Books & Little Brown.

The best way to create reading habits is to start early and to participate with your child. As well, the best way to spur phonological development and form superior reading and writing skills is through poetry. Mary Ann Hoberman's book is a great tool for both of these necessities, plus it has another powerful attribute that is much sought after; this is a book that boys will enjoy! In addition to the cover shot I have included the first poem/story of the book because I want to highlight the illustrations. Clearly these are geared towards boys, and interestingly enough the second story is about those two mean cats being picked on by dogs, so don't worry about moral shortcomings in the book. Most of the stories are gender neutral, but it is good to start in a comfort zone for boys, who are traditionally the ones most averse to reading.