You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You by MaryAnn Hoberman
One of my favorite books to use for improving reading fluency, You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You is a collection of short poems for two voices. One person reads one side, and a friend or parent reads the other side. Rhyming words, silliness and relatively simple text make this book a good choice for new language learners and beginning readers. For older readers, it’s a great chance to use expression and fluency skills to read them aloud.
A.Maze Me by Naomi Shihab Nye
This book of poetry, geared toward girls in upper elementary (but also good for boys!), is chocked full of wisdom and insight and gorgeous words. Here is a snippet of the magic:
Life is a tangle of
Twisting paths.
Some short.
Some long.
There are dead ends.
And there are choices.
And wrong turns,
And detours,
And yield signs,
And instruction booklets,
And star maps,
And happiness,
And loneliness.
And friends.
And sisters.
And love.
And poetry.
Life is a maze.
You are a maze.
Amazed.
And amazing.
