RHYMING and EASY READERS make A GREAT MATCH!

The first book I can remember reading by myself was SNOW, by Roy McKie and P.D. Eastman. The book is part of the Dr. Seuss' Beginner Books series, a series that soon grew to dominate the beginning reader market. 

What I loved about this book was that it made me feel so successful at reading! The story was fun and the illustrations added humor. It employed a triad of elements found in easy readers:

• repetition of sounds
• limited vocabulary
​• short sentence structure

I find that the best easy readers have two additional elements:

• an engaging story, with an arc that
leads readers to turn the pages, and
• "read-aloud-ability", holding up to multiple
​re-readings by child and adult

The majority of the Dr. Seuss' Beginner Books are written in rhyme. Rhyme and easy readers are a terrific match, especially for those children at the very beginning stages of reading ("Step 1"). Rhymed text is predictive, with the first rhyming word giving the clue to the second one. Readers combine that clue with picture clues to come up with the correct word.
Other rhymers have joined the ranks of Dr. Seuss as more publishers added easy readers to their lists. Here are three that I think do it well -- authors Charles Ghigna, Kaz Windness, and Diana Murray.

Author Charles Ghigna. Illustrators Julia Woolf (left) and Diane Greenseid (right)

Author/Illustrator Kaz Windness

Author Diana Murray. Illustrators Maria Karipidou (left) and Gal Weizman (right)

Let's take a peek at SNOW WONDER, authored by Charles Ghigna, published by Random House. The opening of the book sets the scene. A family wakes up to a snowy morning. The meter uses an iamb foot (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, repeated). The rhyming pairs (snow/show, eyes/size) are true (perfect) rhymes.

The story follows a simple arc from morning until night. Of course, the word "snow" is repeated often, but the story also has a repetitive phrase -- "It's no wonder..." -- that appears six times in the story and builds on the introduction of the word "wonder" in the opening line. On the last page, the phrase changes slightly to "It's snow wonder...". Here is the sweet penultimate spread:

Now let's look at GO! GO! DINO! by author/illustrator Kaz Windness, published by Simon Spotlight. (Her 2024 book, WORM AND CATERPILLAR ARE FRIENDS, was a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Winner -- the award given annually by the ALA to the best beginning reader books of the year.) 
The story begins as a variety of dinosaurs get ready to race their wheeled vehicles. The meter uses a trochee foot (a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, repeated), which starts each line with a pop of stress! Notice the use of R alliteration in the words rolling/reptiles/races and the true rhyme of places/races.

The arc follows the progress of the race; a problem develops when several of the dinosaurs crash. Stegosaurus is set to win the race, but has second thoughts about that. In the end, a surprise contender draws near. Who will win?
The last line in this spread shows an example of long A assonance in share/race. Adding poetic devices like alliteration and assonance to your text makes it more fun to read!

The last rhyming author we'll look at is Diana Murray. Her beginning reader, PIZZA PIG, also published by Random House, is a personal favorite.
​The story opens with Pizza Pig in front of the pizza oven, vowing to make individualized pizzas for customers. The meter of this book also uses a trochee foot. I've found that rhyming early readers are often written in an iamb or trochee meter. These meters are easy for readers to follow and they march the pace along. Great P alliteration and repetition of "pizza" and "pig" on this spread!

The arc flows as the pig distributes pizzas to specific animals. Humor is added by the choice of toppings, like those below for goats, sloths, and pigs, respectively. Note the T alliteration, as well as the internal rhyme of topped/slop.

Topped with tin cans. 
Topped with twigs. 
Topped with slop for muddy pigs. 

The author introduces conflict when a turtle isn't happy with her pizza. The worried pig offers other toppings, but the turtle remains sad. Finally pig realizes the issue (the pig doesn't want to eat alone), which leads to a resolution. So much packed into 32 pages and 257 words!

One way to get a feel for the rhythm, wording, and sentence length of a rhyming easy reader is to type it out yourself and analyze it, much the way I've done here. Give it a try! Easy readers are fun to write and can be a great addition to your writer's portfolio. 

If you'd like to learn more about meter and poetic devices, check out Eileen Meyer's Poetry Prescriptions posts -- https://www.rhymedoctors.com/house_calls/category/poetry-prescriptions

​~ Patricia Toht