Poetry can be a good tool to use to teach reading.  
In teaching a child to read, you should choose lines of copy that will interest and amuse him or her  
and encourage imagination. The same is true when using lines of poetry.  

Children's poetry draws on two natural tendencies of childhood: imagination and play.  

The best poets who have written for children have not forgotten this. Shel Silverstein is a great example with his book The Giving Tree, and we are all familiar with the creative genius of Dr. Suess. Made up words like Lerkim, Grickle-grass, and Gluppity-Glupp play with the tongue and stretch the imagination.  

The funny poems in The Macaroon Moon, such as "The Face Place," "Sneakers," "Bubble Gum  
Trouble" and "When the Chips are Down" stretch children’s imaginations in the same way, using potato chips, ice cream, bubble gum, chinny-chin-chins and sneakers to attract children’s interest and encourage reading.  

The collective use of the words "Slither, slide. Wiggle! Hide!" in "Hide," The Macaroon Moon poem  
about a snake, is both imaginative and playful. Suggest to children that they make up their own poems using these words. Learning to read should be fun.