ALA Booklist (Sat Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2003)

Published originally as a poem in the compilation Honey, I Love, and Other Love Poems (1978), this warm verse gets new life in picture book version enhanced by Gilchrist's down-home illustrations. A little African American girl with a gap-toothed grin proclaims she loves a lot of things: the way her Southern cousin talks, splashing in the swimming pool, making the laughing sound with her friend. The poetry has a charming cadence: I hold her arm and kiss it / cause it feels so soft and warm / Honey, let me tell you that / I LOVE my mama's arm / I love to kiss my mama's arm. The picture that illustrates that verse is particularly nice. The watercolor art, which features children who look as if they could be living down the block, will draw readers close.

Horn Book (Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2003)

A young African-American girl describes her favorite things: going for rides in the car, laughing, the way her Southern cousin talks. This sunny poem from Greenfield's 1978 collection of the same title has been previously illustrated by Gilchrist as a sturdy-paged book for preschoolers; this picture book features new illustrations--warm, realistic artwork of the girl's family scenes.

Kirkus Reviews

Iffy art cramps this 25th-anniversary reissue of the joyful title poem from Greenfield's first collection (1978), illustrated by the Dillons. As timeless as ever, the poem celebrates everything a child loves, from kissing Mama's warm, soft arm to listening to a cousin from the South, " 'cause every word he says / just kind of slides out of his mouth." "I love a lot of things / a whole lot of things," the narrator concludes, "And honey, / I love ME, too." The African-American child in the pictures sports an updated hairstyle and a big, infectious grin—but even younger viewers will notice that the spray of cool water that supposedly "stings my stomach" isn't aimed there, and that a comforter on the child's bed changes patterns between pages. More problematic, though, is a dropped doll that suddenly acquires a horrified expression that makes it look disturbingly like a live baby, and the cutesy winged fairy that hovers over the sleeping child in the final scene. The poem deserves better. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

After first appearing in Honey, I Love and Other Poems (1978), now, Eloise Greenfield's Honey, I Love, in which an African-American child joyfully recounts the things that make her life special, appears as a stand-alone poem in a 25th-anniversary picture book edition, illus. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-First published in 1978, Greenfield's warm flowing verse will find a welcome new audience in this newly illustrated 25th-anniversary edition. The joyous poem sings the praises of the many things a young child loves. The cool freshness of a hose on a hot day, laughing with friends, and taking a ride in the family car are some of the universal pleasures brought to life in this lyrical rhyme. The words beg to be read aloud, as when the narrator's cousin from the South comes to visit, and she says, "I like the way he whistles and I like the way he walks/But honey, let me tell you that I LOVE the way he talks-." Gilchrist's shimmery watercolor illustrations of a beaming African-American child lend a different feel than Diane and Leo Dillon's contemplative charcoal drawings, and may appeal to younger children. There is one change in the text; the last line reads "And honey, I love ME, too," whereas in the original, it is "And honey, I love you, too."-Anna DeWind Walls, Milwaukee Public Library Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.