From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-A companion to the popular You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together (Little, Brown, 2001), this book offers eight fairy tales to inspire a wonderful read-aloud experience for two voices. The color and placement of the text on the pages indicate the different parts. For example, "The Little Red Hen" begins with voice one, in orange type: "I'm Little Red Hen./I planted the wheat./I dug up the soil/In the dust and the heat." Then, voice two, in magenta: "And I am the Duck/And I have to admit/That I did not help her,/Not one little bit." Each tale ends with both participants sharing the refrain: "You read to me./I'll read to you." Hoberman doesn't offer full renditions of the stories, but rather uses the characters and one or two plot elements to create retellings that will entice children and encourage them to keep reading. The selections all have happy endings; in "Jack and the Beanstalk," the ogre agrees to share some of his treasure with the boy, and Little Red Riding Hood takes the Big Bad Wolf out to lunch where they read together while waiting for their food. The verses are rarely forced or faltering, and the two voices join seamlessly together to create a truly delightful reading ensemble. Emberley's humorous illustrations feature expressive characters drawn in pen, watercolor, and pastel, and are liberally scattered throughout the text.Shelley B. Sutherland, Niles Public Library District, ILCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. Like You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together (2001), this is an exuberant picture-book read-aloud with short, rhymed, illustrated scenarios for two voices. This time the eight stories are fairy tales--fractured fairy tales--and, as Hoberman says in her introduction, new readers will need to know the originals in order to enjoy the fun. In fact, even seasoned older readers will love the parody. Little Red Riding Hood takes Grandma and a starving wolf to a restaurant for lunch. Goldilocks befriends Baby Bear and takes him home with her to get some porridge (since she ate up all of his). Each story ends with former enemies reading together. Cinderella, for example, invites her gross sisters to live with her in the palace, and they share a good book while the prince reads nearby. Emberley's clear comic-style pictures are hilarious. The big but vulnerable ogre in "Jack and the Beanstalk" has a nose ring and earrings, and a cool Jack in sunglasses and high-heeled boots makes a deal. Great for readers' theater. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


–Child Magazine (A Best Book of the Year)
"The content is as smart as the format, with fresh takes on old plots."


—Horn Book (starred review)
"Seldom has a potential play script been as delectably illustrated as this one."


—Parenting Magazine
"These brief verse retellings are just right for you to share with your new reader"

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
The team who created You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together return with a zippy fairy-tale follow-up aimed at getting kids to read cooperatively. Including eight fairy tales amended to ultimately convey the joy of reading, Hoberman delivers another lively, positive-minded picture book featuring "The Three Bears," "The Princess and the Pea," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and other familiar stories. In one tale, Little Red Riding Hood speaks with the disguised Big Bad Wolf, going back and forth in a peppy dialogue -- each character's words are clearly set apart through differently colored text and indentations -- that results in both of them heading off to a restaurant: [Red:] "Well, if you promise to behave, I'll take you out to lunch." / [Wolf:] "We'll go out to a restaurant / And while our dinners cook / We'll read a special story / Out of a special book." Likewise, Cinderella and her nasty stepsisters sit down for family time; the Little Red Hen gets her barnyard pals to join in storytime after her bread is eaten; and the Three Billy Goats Gruff check out a book with the bridge troll. Hoberman's reading-themed effort is glowing with its messages about books and solving differences, and when combined with Michael Emberley's gut-busting illustrations and a helpful author's note for parents, this is a winning treat that everyone who is young, or young at heart, will have a blast reading aloud. Shana Taylor

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This cheerful companion follows the enormous success of You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together. Designed with budding readers in mind, each of the 8 fairy tales has been given a new twist and is set in three columns and three colors as a script for two voices to read separately or together. From the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk (in which Jack negotiates for the ogre's hen!) to Goldilocks (in which Baby Bear helps the famed intruder find her way home!), acclaimed writer Mary Ann Hoberman clever disguises reading skill development in her child-friendly rhymes, while Michael Emberley's warm and witty watercolors make for another irresistible package.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Conflict resolution seems the theme of You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman, illus. by Michael Emberley. As with this duo's first collaboration, the tales take the form of a conversation between a pair of characters (such as the princess and the pea or Jack and the ogre atop the beanstalk), allowing the stories to be read aloud by two people. As the characters quibble over plot points, they ultimately come to terms, in each case deciding, "You'll read to me!/ I'll read to you!" Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Mary Quattlebaum

Jack, the giant and that infamous wolf pop up in Mary Ann Hoberman's You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together. Hoberman takes much delightful poetic license in her eight rhymed re-tellings, which feature a chat between a sleepy princess and a grouchy, slept-upon pea and a running dialogue between pugnacious Red Riding Hood and an eager-to-please wolf. Designed for those learning to read, these tales are set up so that two readers alternate between stanzas. The brevity, repetition and rhyme help youngsters develop reading skills—all while enjoying the cozy interaction with another reader. The book's performance aspect, along with Michael Emberley's humorous watercolors, should inspire frequent readings as well as a demand for the originals. 2004, Little Brown, Ages 4 to 7.

School Library Journal