Greenfield, E. (1998). Honey, I Love. China: Harper Collins Publishers
Brief Annotation: This is a fun free verse story about a little girl in the summertime and all the things she loves. It has great illustrations and a fun, predictable pattern. While the story does not rhyme, kids can easily pick up on the pattern of the narrative and join in reading. It would also be great to read if you were trying to teach a lesson about oral expression.
Genre: Poetry/Free Verse
Grade level: K-3
Readers who would like this: Kids who like predictable, rhythmic stories. Kids who want to share their favorite thing.
Response/Rating (1-4): **** I really enjoyed this story, it made me want to chime in with what I love. I think it would be really fun story to read aloud to students.
One question you would ask before reading aloud: What is one thing you love to do? Tell the person sitting next to you.
Reading strategies connection: This story would work well with a collaborative book strategy (Tompkins, 25). Students could each contribute their own “Honey, I love” page with something they love or love to do, following the author’s style/pattern. Each child could also then draw the illustration of themselves doing/experiencing the thing they love. All of the pages then would be compiled into a class, “Honey, we love” book.
Have you heard of Eloise Greenfield, the author, before reading this book? She's wonderful, and you're perceptive to pick up on the "not quite rhyming", but poetry feel of her writing.
ReplyDeleteYou noted that having students read along and/or predict passages would help with their "oral expression". After reading the DeVries chapter on fluency, and watching the fluency video, you'll know which dimension of fluency oral expression fits.
Before I saw your response connection, I was thinking that this book sounds like a perfect opportunity for making reading/writing connections; I saw in the end of your posting that you felt the same way. Good match.