Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky's Giggle Poetry Reading Lessons turns struggling readers into happy readers — For Grades 2–5.

Many struggling readers are embarrassed to read aloud. They are often intimidated or bored by texts that conventional programs require them to practice. So, instead of catching up, they fall further behind. Currently 67% of American fourth graders can’t read grade-level text. Reading specialist Amy Buswell has spent eight years looking for remediation methods that work. “What is needed,” Buswell explains, “is a program that improves the motivation of struggling readers, because that accounts for 90% of the problem.” Four years ago, Buswell came up with a brainstorm. She knew her best readers enjoyed reading Bruce Lansky’s poetry books for pleasure. The more poems they read, the better the reading got. Why not use Lansky’s kid-tested poems as texts struggling readers could practice on to improve their reading—using six research-based strategies: choral reading, echo reading, paired reading, repeated reading, sustained silent reading and “say it like the character” reading. — This book is the result of that brainstorm and the resulting collaboration between Buswell and Lansky. It gives teachers and parents everything they need to help children improve their reading: -35 kid-tested poems by Bruce Lansky -35 customized reading lessons by Amy Buswell -35 off-the-wall illustrations by Stephen Carpenter -35 sets of zany performance tips by Bruce Lansky …all of which is designed to make the process of reading improvement more like fun than work. — What Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky have created is the most entertaining fluency intervention ever. That’s why it is so successful at overcoming negative attitudes to improve reading skills and scores. Ninety-five percent of participating students made significant improvement in their fluency (reading rate). And average reading scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) for Buswell’s school raised her school’s rating to an A for the first time. In 2011, Buswell’s school achieved one of the highest-percentage reading gains in the county. — There’s no reason parents can’t get in on the fun, too. Parents will enjoy Lansky’s funny poems and Stephen Carpenter’s delightful illustrations as much as their children. By reading the poems with their children and encouraging their children to try some of Lansky’s entertaining performance tips (by adding gestures, sound effects, props and finding additional readers: be they friends, family or neighbors), they can dramatically speed up their child’s reading progress (and have lots of fun in the process.)

Amy Buswell is a reading specialist who teaches in West Palm Beach, FL. Her entertaining “reading lessons” have dramatically raised the reading skills and scores of the students who attended schools at which she has taught. — Bruce Lansky has written and edited 18 books of humorous poetry for children, which have sold more than 3.5 million copies. Lansky has visited more than 600 schools, and he also created the popular Giggle Poetry website. — Stephen Carpenter is the illustrator who has helped 16 “Giggle Poetry” books come alive with hilarious illustrations. He lives just outside Kansas City with his wife, Becki, and their sheepdog, Lulu.