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

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You

by Mary Ann Hoberman, Mary Ann Hoberman

Mary Ann Hoberman and Michael Emberley have added Aesop's fables to their bestselling and award-winning series! Rediscover familiar tales and find new favorites in this irresistible fifth YOU READ TO ME collaboration. These stories of classic characters-from wise ants and kind mice to sly foxes and hungry wolves-are fables as you've never seen them before!

With clear, color-coded typography and clever illustrations, this book "in two voices" uses traditional reading teaching techniques-alliteration, rhyme, and repetition-to invite young children to read along with peers or with an adult.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Childrens, Fables, Nonfiction, Folklore

32 pages, Hardcover

First published November 2, 2010

About the author

Mary Ann Hoberman was an American author of over 30 children's books.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turning Aesop's fables into a rhyming collection was brilliant and I know Neo enjoyed them. While the inherent morals might have been lost on him, he'll be ready when we tackle them.

[Adrianna Rishmawi · Rating 5 out of 5]

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together written by Mary Hoberman is a traditional fiction, short fables picture book that allows all readers to reminisce on their childhood. This book is a WOW book because growing up I remember these series being in our library and my friends and I would check them up and do a "book club" meeting at recess where we would read the books together. Finding this book again brought back many memories and reminded me of what good of a book this was.

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together is a bestselling and award-winning series that won the Notable Children's Books.

This story rediscovers familiar tales and finds new favorites with characters such as sly foxes, wise ants, hungry wolves, and kind mice through stories that all children can enjoy with parents, teachers, or peers as this book uses two voices throughout the story.

The use of literary devices shown through the illustrations and clear, color-coded printing throughout the story allows readers to feel connected to the characters/ animals that are shown throughout the story. It engages young readers to make connections to the animals and allows them to learn about the characteristics of each animal.

The writing craft that Mary Hoberman used when creating this story introduces alliteration, rhyme, and repetition to young readers, which grasp their attention to read along. Using animal characters as the main characters could help children develop a healthier self-perception of themselves in a different form of representation. This could also help children to learn about stereotypes in a more appropriate way. Children or adults will be able to learn the lesson throughout the story rather than focusing on the presentation/looks of the main character.

This book is free of bias since it included many different kinds of animals and multiple characters with different stories in each book that allows all readers to choose one that they feel they like best.

[Madison Cosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book by Mary Ann Hoberman was a compilation of many short Fables. The genre of this book is poetry. This was written in a read together format. I think this book could be used for grades 3-5. Even though it isn’t written in a complex way, I think it can be fun for students who are older too.

One activity I could have the class do is work in pairs to practice reading one of the fables, and then present it to the class. This would help students to build fluency and watching other groups perform their poems is engaging and also helps to build fluency. I could also have the students analyze literary devices that occurred throughout the poems. Students could talk about the themes that occured in their poem, or maybe in the poems that others read. There are so many different activities that could take place around this book, especially since it is chunked into many fables.

The reason that this book was a WOW book for me is because I enjoyed reading it with my roommate at my age. Poems like these are engaging no matter a child’s reading level. I think it is so important to have books where readers of all levels can engage and gain new ideas from, which is exactly what this book does.

[Maci Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a really exciting one that allows students to read together and take turns. It keeps them engaged and focused, and the pressure is off of them a bit since it's a two-person reading. It includes a total of 13 fables written in poetic verse. The fables include "The Boy Who Cried Wolf," "The Tortise and the Hare," "The Lion and the Mouse," and many others! It makes familiar stories exciting and fresh as they're written in a new way. I really like the unique two-person take on stories that we all grew up hearing.
I would use this in the classroom to build fluency and to practice fun texts and performance in the classrooms. I think it would be exciting, kind of like we did in class, to give each person a specific fable (when learning about fables) and then allow each group to present. It's a lot of fun to engage and to make our voices silly and make the stories more exciting.
I thought this was a WOW book because of the morals in the stories and because of the unique way of presenting stories and engaging readers. I think it could be cross-genre instruction as well. It could be poetry, fables, short stories, etc. I think this kind of book is just really great in general, but I especially love this one because I love the morals that fables reinforce.

[Ashley Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Grade Levels: k-5
"You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together" is a super fun book that allows children to read verses back and forth with other students. It includes 13 different short story fables, written in verse that are intended for 2 voices to read together. I love the natural, poetic form that this book was written in. The illustrations are also very funny, which only adds to my liking of the book. The fables offer some familiar stories, such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "The Lion and the Mouse," as well as some other short fables which may be less familiar to students.
This book could be used for a variety of purposes in a variety of grades! It is a great text to use for students to practice fluency in a fun and engaging way. Each pair of students could be assigned a fable, time to practice it with their partner, and then present it to the class! With an activity like this, students won't even realizing they are working on a reading skill, rather they will just enjoy the task! This book could also be used to teach about poetry in general. Students could attempt to write their own poems that are meant to be read by at least two different voices. Yet another use of this book could be to teach about the specific genre of fables. All of the poems include a final "moral" which is at the heart of what a fable is. I love this book because it could be used across grade levels for all kinds of different activities!

[Rebekah Boehme · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most fun book of fables I have ever read! The beautiful illustrations are one of the first things that caught my and drew me in to the book. This books is one in a series called You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. There are two "voices" for each fable. As you and your partner read each part, a beautiful lesson unfolds on the pages. This book would be an excellent addition to any first or second grade classroom as it is on par with a 6-8 year old's reading level. In my future classroom, I will use this book to build fluency and practice inflection when reading aloud. These would be so much fun to have the class partner and present to their classmates.

[Lizzy McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved reading the book You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together! The book is an excellent choice for students to practice reading out loud and become fluent readers! The book contains a collection of short fables with different parts that students can read and perform together. It comes from a full series of 'You Read to Me, I'll Read to You' books, which contains short, performance based stories for young students. This book is a WOW! book because I have never seen a book organized in the same way. It takes classic fables and puts them in a format that is easier for students to perform. I especially like that the different colored text for each character make it easy for students to read the fables together, but they could also easily understand the story if they choose to read on their own. I would think that students around third grade would be most interested in this book, but it could definitely be utilized in fourth and fifth grade as well! This book is an awesome way to incorporate reader’s theater into the classroom. It can be used to teach students a variety of lessons, especially how to read with the correct tone and expression, and to pause for punctuation. It is a great way for teachers to formatively assess reading fluency without the stress of a standardized fluency assessment. Another engaging activity for students would be to find another fable that isn’t featured in the book and have them use the book as a model to perform their own fable! Finally, this book could be used with a supplemental lesson on research techniques. After discussing the research techniques and reading the fables book, each student could select or be assigned a specific fable and research the fables origins. The students could even report their findings back to the class. I especially love that at the end of each fable, the moral is explicitly stated to students. I think that in my own classroom, I would cover the morals up and have students try to guess the moral based off of the fable. After making their guesses, students could reveal the moral and discuss it's importance.

[Kira Dickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Copyright: 2010
Number of Pages: 32
Format: Hardcover
Reading Level: Grades K-2; GR-M
Genre: fables
Lit requirement: Easy to read books #1

Summary:
In another book of the You Read to Me, I'll Read to You series this one are short fables to read. Each fable is two pages long and each of the two characters alternate on who is reading with the moral of the fable being read in unison. It has the classics like the Boy who cried wolf and the Lion and the Mouse.

Response:
I loved this book because first it was about fables. Fables falls under one of the genres I love to read. Second the pictures where interesting to look at. The words also have a rhythm to them when you read the words which I found kind of fun. I would recommend this book as it will entertain the child and they will be able to be active while reading it with you.

[Mary English · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Ann Hoberman writes an excellent, award winning series for encouraging reading together. This book portrays a collection of beloved fables in a writing style that emphasizes rhyme and rhythm to help children begin to recognize language patterns. My favorite story is The Hare and the Tortoise. The colorful illustrations by Michael Emberley are sure to draw your reader in and get them excited about the story. This is a great book for early elementary students, as it allows students to gain competency and fluency as readers. I used this book to project the stories onto the smart board to use as shared readings during our literacy time.

[Cassie Dolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book for teachers who are just starting their students of with reading or parents who love bed time stories and their kids are at the age of learning how to read. The book is a bunch of short fables that have three different color for the writing to show when one person turn to read and then the other. The reading turn are almost like you are one character in the story and then someone else is the other and it’s short easy reading lines which is very helpful for young kids just learning. And even better at the end of the story their is a different colored word that tells what the moral of each story was.

[Abbie Gerig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Poetry
Grades: Pre K-2

I really liked this book because of two reasons. The first is because it has many stories in one book, so you can read one story one day and another the next. The other reason is because it's meant for two readers: One person reads one line, and the other person reads the next. The illustrations are fun, and the lines are even color-coded so that the readers know which lines to read.

[Cristina B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author: Mary Ann Hoberman
Genre: nonfiction, fable, fantasy, adventure
Grade level: PK-3
I love fables, and the book contains stories I have never read. I like reading books with my kids because they also learn lessons at the end and discuss imaginary tales, questions, and answers. Besides, I like the poetic rhyming constructions of the book.

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

we read a lot of fables in Germany and I know most of them. This book is fantastic because you can either read it yourself or with a second reader and it's written in 2 colors so you can take turns like a script. the illustrations are darling and I would love to own this one.

[Sharie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also great for reader's theater or short speech duet entries.

[Rebecca Ainscow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aesop's fables are important, even timeless, but also tend to be a little...dry? These versions feel fresh, funny, and the rhyming makes them lots of fun to read out loud.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a bear idea where you can sit down and read with your child, you read one character's lines and he or she reads the other. But I didn't like the rhymes or a lot of the fables in this book.

[Sarah Hamrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You Read to Me, I’ll Read to You: Very Short Fables to Read Together” by Mary Ann Hoberman is a great book for students to learn more about familiar tales and fables. The book includes “The Hare and the Tortoise,” “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” “The Ant and the Dove,” “The Goose Who Laid the Golden Eggs,” and many more. This book is very interactive because each fable has two voices, so the students can voice characters and work with fluency and dialogue. I really like “The Hare and the Tortoise” fable because it reviews a popular tale while allowing students to identify how the characters are being developed through the fable, since the author does a great job creating depth within the characters so that the students can analyze them. Each Fable also has the moral for the fable listed at the end so the students can synthesize what they learned from the fable and apply it in their own lives.

I think I would use this book in a guided reading lesson that focused on fluency. I would first have students read the whole fable quietly to themselves. Then I would pair students up with a partner, and they would take turns reading each character from a particular fable. This would give students time to practice their reading skills while still creating reading fluency. I would particularly work on inflections with this guided reading so that students can use context clues as well as punctuation to gain knowledge of how to read the dialogue between the characters.

I also could use this book as an interactive read aloud to the class. If I did this, then I would have students write their own fables, or modify an existing fable, where they would include dialogue between at least two characters. After all students have completed this assignment, I would have students pair up and read the fables out loud with a partner. This would allow students not only to hear another fable created by their classmate, but also gain fluency skills by reading it out loud with a partner.

[Daniel Markowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plot Summary: "Very Short Fables to Read Together" is a picture book that has a poem on every page that two people can read together. The book consists of two side, one in orange and one in green. One reader picks a side and reads it out loud and it the print is pink, they read it together. This poetry book makes reading poems fun and interactive to read with someone. Another cool feature about this book is that it involves an Aesop Fable on every page so they each have a lesson or a moral, which is "a brief rule drawn from the story that explains how to act or behave." The book includes popular fables with a twist including the hare and the tortoise, the country mouse and city mouse, the lion and the mouse and the boy that cried wolf. What is even cooler about this book is that the moral is defined at the end of each poem.

Literacy Merit: This book has a lot of themes because each page has a theme or moral. One of the most popular fables is the The Tortoise and the Hare. The moral is slow and steady win the race. Another popular fable is the lion and the mouse. The moral of that fable is kindness wins over all. Some one might be bigger and stronger then you but kindness matters most.

Genre Considerations: Clearly this picture book is a poetry book. Each page has a poem and a moral/lesson. The "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" books are part of the Poetry Foundation. All of her books in this category are part of this foundation.

Classroom Connections: If I did a lesson on this book, I would photocopy a page of the book and have the students get into pairs. Each pair would read to each other and together. This would help them work on reading out loud skills. Then i would have the students make a comic strip or picture connecting the moral to real life, specifically their own life.

[Tanya Bornstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is such a clever way to use poems. the poems are cute and sweet and some not so nice, however each poem has a moral written in pink. This was you and your child can discuss what can be learned by each poem. this book also gives your child a chance to read with you. The poems are broken up by colors orange and green. The child can read the orange part as you read the green part. then together you can read the moral which is pink!



L.E: have the book handy by your classrooms safe place. When the child needs to calm down and take a breath he/she can read the moral of a poem and try to fix their problem that has made them go to a safe place.

Poem:

The Dog in the Manger:

Dog: I am a farm dog
But I'm not a worker.
I lie in the manger.
They call me a shirker.

Cow: I am a helper.
A hard working cow.
I work in the pasture.
I'm working there now.

Dog: How I love napping here
Deep in the hay.
I come in the morning
And stay here all day.

Cow: It's time for my supper.
I'm ready to eat.
There's hay in the barn
So I'm in for a treat.
But who's in my manger?
Have I got a guest?
That lazy old farm dog
Is taking a rest.

Dog: You silly old cow,
I am spending the night.
Do not try to eat
Or I'll give you a bite!

Cow: You selfish old dog,
You don't even eat hay.
I'm terribly hungry
So please go away.

Dog: No, I will not!
Don't you dare to come near!
I may not eat hay
But I'm staying right here!

Cow: That dog is so heartless.
He's mean as can be.
I'll have to go hungry.
No supper for me.

Moral: If something's no use to you,
Stop and take heed.
Don't be like dog
Who keeps things others need.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Aesop's fables, and I love Hoberman's "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You" series, so I knew I'd love this one. These thirteen fables can be read by oneself or with one or more other persons, each one reading a different colored part. Michael Emberley's cute illustrations add substance to the text, much of which is dialogue. I love the hare in "The Hare and the Tortoise"! The picture of the farmer killing the goose that laid the golden egg is interesting--he's wielding a knife, but instead of a gash in his belly, the dead goose has an unbuttoned coat with two red ribbons spilling out. I guess he didn't want to scare the little kids! I think I liked "The Grasshopper and the Ant" the best, because even though the ants worked hard to store food for the winter, and the grasshopper did not, they still shared. Great stories for kids!

[Kalynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

You read to me, I'll read to you by Mary Ann Hoberman is a children's book about the fables you were told as a child. Some of the fables are the tortoise and the hare and the boy who cried wolf. Also all the fables are animals and have very good morals to live by.

At the end of every story the moral is clearly stated in a bright different color. Each story is told by two different people talking to each other. It is based so two people can read this book together and gain rhythm. As a teacher you can use this to help the child gain rhythm and learn more poetry. The personification of the book gives all the animals human characteristics.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm having a lot of fun reading these with my 5 year old (she's a pretty advanced reader for her age). These are Aesop's fables written for two voices in short rhymes. My daughter loves picking which character to be (Tortoise or Hare, Fox or Stork...) The lines are color-coded (ie. you read the orange words, I read the green words, we read the pink words together). If your child is supposed to read aloud to you for homework, this is a really fun way to do it!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always liked this series for early readers and this most recent addition is no exception. A call-and-response version of Aesop's fables, the book simplifies the fables with different color text for multiple readers. It brings some theatrics and energy to the old stories with gentle easy-to-get humor for reluctant and beginning readers.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These antiphonal poems are just perfect for those early reading days. Two people taking turns reading--they can both be new readers or one more experienced than the other. Parts are color-coded. I love the fables in here--these are part of our cultural heritage and well worth reading with the children in your life (think of the familiar Aesop's tales about the boy who cried wolf and so forth).

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lastest in this cute series of partner reading. This book is full of Aesops Fables reworded to rhyme and be read with a partner. Reading like this is fun, great for fluency an a great way to work in Readers Theatre and public performance/speaking. I will enjoy using this with my students.

[Randie D. Camp, M.S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hoberman has structured the text into "two voices" with sections of choral passages that allows readers the opportunity to interact with the text in a new way. The rhyme, rhythm, and repetition are also fun. Nice illustrations to match!

[Jodi Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book filled with well-known fables that children will enjoy to read or hear read aloud. There are different colored sections that allow multiple readers to read together. Students could reenact some of the fables or even make alternate endings in their journals.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first grader and I had fun reading this one together; it was good to pick characters to learn a bit about point of view in addition to introudcing him to (in some cases, reminding him of) Aesop's fables.

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theme: building reading confidence and love of reading

Another great book in the You Read to Me, I read to You series. I am excited to add this one to the collection next year in my classroom.

Use in the classroom: Great for fluency, read with a partner, and as a Reader's Theater.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful addition to the four others in the series. I like using this book for partner reading because the text is printed perfectly for that in mind. This book gives short renditions for different fables. Great for all kids.