Honey I Love

Module 4

Greenfield, Eloise. 1978. Honey, I love and other love poems. Ill. by Diane and Leo Dillon. New York:HarperCollinsPublishers

This classic compilation by Eloise Greenfield contains 16 poems written from the perspective of an African American child. Greenfield uses some free verse, some rhyming couplets and a lot of internal rhyme in these poems about what a child loves about life. They speak about ordinary things: music, jumping rope and riding on a train. They also touch the emotions of joy, feeling pretty and friendship. The black and white drawings completely capture the feelings of the child. The brown drawings, done in a childish style, are a contrast to the the black and white drawings and give an image of what the child is thinking. A poem about Harriette Tubman uses a childs' language to convey a lesson about this great woman: "Harriette Tubman didn't take no stuff, Wasn't scared of nothing neither, Didn't come in this world to be no slave, And wasn't going to stay one either." The book was published in 1978 and some of the hairstyles are outdated (as well as some references to the Jackson Five and Earth, Wind and Fire); even so it speaks to the feelings of children today about what's really important: love and life. It is recommended for children ages 9-12.