Customer Reviews

You Read to Me, I'll Read to You

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book of enjoyable, amusing, and well made poetry alternates poems to be read by adults to children with poems to be read by children to adults. Since I was 8 I've loved it, my child now gives it as a gift at every birthday party

This is the most marvelous book. I received it as a gift in 1968 when I was 7 years old and I'm still reading it at 40. My dad heard Ciardi speak at Rutgers and was mesmorized. Definitely buy this book for your children (or as a guilty pleasure for yourself).

I have been a fan of John Ciardi since first grade, and now my students love to read his work. This poem collection is no exception. I encourage all poetry lovers to read it!

This book was a staple from my childhood, and
I highly recommend it as a classic to be included in
any collection of children's books. No child
should have to go through life never hearing
about Daddy Fixing Breakfast. ...

This collection can hardly be bettered, not only as first-class versifying but also as a tool to help children learn to read. Writing that's this vivid and imaginative (and well-crafted) does not come along very often, and praise should be shouted from the housetops for it. I have loved this book, which absolutely does NOT "glorify corporal punishment" as another reviewer has it, ever since it came out in 1962, and I return to it still. (One of the high points in my life was to hear my own son--now 19--read me one of these poems aloud years ago...the first thing he ever read by himself.) And as an added bonus, the illustrator is none other than Edward Gorey. This is the best of us. Buy it, now.

What a pleasure to read again after more than 40 years! Despite societal references (e.g. father incapable of preparing breakfast) which locate the spirit of this great little volume somewhere in the mindset of the 19th century, almost every poem is still as much fun to read (to my 36 year old wife!....hopefully later to kids...) today as it was when I first received the book as a toddler in the 1960s. As then, I have already spent long moments browsing the wonderful pictures, which alone animate to read on and on and on... a must for every child's shelf!

My son can't wait to read this together every night. Cherished moments with my angel.

I loved this book growing up. In 1975 I was quoting one of the poems from memory (The Hoo Ha, the Rinky Dink and the Automatic Chugg, I think it was) and my future husband was so taken with how entertaining I was that he asked me for a date, and now we've been married 31 years :-)

The poems are sometimes a little violent, sometimes a little scary, sometimes a little sad (My Horse Jack, for example) and usually very funny. Just what kids love best. Maybe not for every kid, but I sure loved this book from age about 8.

I started reading this book to my daughter when she was three. The poems made her giggle and laugh out loud. She begged me for certain poems at bedtime, and I had nearly as good a time as she did. I still believe she absorbed a lot about the use of language from John Ciardi.
Now my daughter is 26, and this book is the first baby present I shall send her. It is a treasure!You Read to Me, I'll Read to You

I work with elementary age children and they just love the "You read to me, I read to you" books. I purchased this one (along with another) and this book is at a much higher level. The biggest issue is that it is not clear who reads what....which is the whole purpose of these sorts of books.... So, the book is useless to me.