Spooky Twosomes: You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman

I'm a zombie. Who are you?

Me? I am a zombie, too.

Well, we are a dreadful pair.

Yes, I know. It isn't fair.

People scatter when they see us.

Not a person wants to be us.

We are hated. We are feared.

Well, admit it. We are weird.

What a couple. What a twosome.

We scare ourselves. We are so gruesome.

But this resourceful duo grab a couple of doll-faced masks and live their fantasy of being "charming cuties," bamboozling everyone before returning to their regular haunts:

Let's go home and just relax.
Have a plate of zombie snacks.
Read a zombie tale or two.
You read to me. I'll read to you!

In the latest of her wildly popular series, You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together (You Read to Me, I'll Read to You) Mary Ann Hoberman has left the fractured fairy tale format behind for a collection of thirteen not-too-scary rhyming stories featuring skeletons, ghouls, dinosaurs, zombies, mummies, and some intrepid children who love to be scared. Bouncy story poems, written for two color-coded voices, with color-coded conclusions to be spoken in unison, feature all the creepy critters of Halloween--a witch and her talented broom who squabble over who's the star of the show, a pair of kids who plot the mischief they could create if only they owned a skeleton, and a ghost and a mouse who are scared only of each other, to name a few. Each tale appears in a double-page spread designed by illustrator Michael Emberley, with a story-in-rhyme which just begs to be read aloud--by parent and child, by pairs of school reading buddies, at holiday parties, in school programs, or at candlelit sleepovers during the scary season.

Other fun-time titles for two voices in this series include You Read to Me, I'll Read to You Very Short Fairy Tales to Read Together and You Read to Me, I'll Read to You Very Short Stories to Read Together.