Eloise Greenfield’s Followers (54)

Eloise Greenfield

Born

in Parmele, NC, The United States

May 17, 1929

Died

August 05, 2021

Genre

Children's Books

edit data

Greenfield was born Eloise Little in Parmele, North Carolina, and grew up in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression in the Langston Terrace housing project, which provided a warm childhood experience for her.[1] She was the second oldest of five children of Weston W. Little and his wife Lessie Blanche (née Jones) Little (1906–1986). A shy and studious child, she loved music and took piano lessons.[2][3] Greenfield experienced racism first-hand in the segregated southern U.S., especially when she visited her grandparents in North Carolina and Virginia.[4] She graduated from Cardozo Senior High School in 1946 and attended Miner Teachers College until 1949. In her third year, however, she found that she was too shy to be a teacher and d Greenfield was born Eloise Little in Parmele, North Carolina, and grew up in Washington, D.C., during the Great Depression in the Langston Terrace housing project, which provided a warm childhood experience for her.[1] She was the second oldest of five children of Weston W. Little and his wife Lessie Blanche (née Jones) Little (1906–1986). A shy and studious child, she loved music and took piano lessons.[2][3] Greenfield experienced racism first-hand in the segregated southern U.S., especially when she visited her grandparents in North Carolina and Virginia.[4] She graduated from Cardozo Senior High School in 1946 and attended Miner Teachers College until 1949. In her third year, however, she found that she was too shy to be a teacher and dropped out.[5]

Greenfield began work in the civil service at the U.S. Patent Office. In 1950, she married World War II veteran Robert J. Greenfield, a long-time friend. She began writing poetry and songs in the 1950s while working at the Patent Office, finally succeeding in getting her first poem published in the Hartford Times in 1962 after many years of writing and submitting poetry and stories.[6] After joining the District of Columbia Black Writers Workshop in 1971, she began to write books for children. She has published more than 40 children's books, including picture books, novels, poetry and biographies. She says that she seeks to "choose and order words that children will celebrate".[5][7]

Dismayed by the depiction of blacks and black communities in popular media, Greenfield has focused her work on realistic but positive portrayals of African-American communities, families and friendships.[1] These relationships are emphasized in Sister (1974) a young girl copes with the death of a parent with the help of other family members, Me and Nessie (1975) about best friends, My Daddy and I (1991) and Big Friend, Little Friend (1991) about mentoring.[5] Her first book, Bubbles (1972), "sets the tone for much of Greenfield's later work: Realistic portrayals of loving African American parents working hard to provide for their families, and the children who face life's challenges with a positive outlook."[1] In She Come Bringing Me that Little Baby Girl (1974), a boy deals with feelings of envy and learns to share his parents' love when his baby sister arrives. The poignant Alesia (1981) concerns the bravery of a girl handicapped by a childhood accident. Night on Neighborhood Street (1991) is a collection of poems depicting everyday life in an urban community. One of her best-known books, Honey I Love, first published in 1978, is a collection of poems for people of all ages concerning the daily lives and loving relationships of children and families. Her semi-autobiographical book Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir (1979) describes her happy childhood in a neighborhood with strong positive relationships.[5] In the introduction to that book, she explains her interest in biography:

People are a part of their time. They are affected, during the time that they live by the things that happen in their world. Big things and small things. A war, an invention such as radio or television, a birthday party, a kiss. All of these help to shape the present and the future. If we could know more about our ancestors, about the experiences they had when they were children, and after they had grown up, too, we would know much more about what has shaped us and our world.[8]

In 1971, Greenfield began work for the District of Columbia Black Writers' Workshop, as co-director of adult fiction and then, in 1973, as director of children's literature. That group's goal was to encourage the writing and publishing of African-American literature. She was writer-in-residence at the District of Columbia Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 1985-86 and taught creative writing in schools under grants from the Commission. She has also lectured and given free workshops on writing of African-American children's ...more

Combine Editions
Eloise Greenfield’s books

Average rating: 4.04 · 3,948 ratings · 1,009 reviews · 73 distinct works • Similar authors

	Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems (Reading Rainbow Books) by Eloise Greenfield, Leo Dillon (Illustrator) 4.35 avg rating — 987 ratings — published 1978 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Great Migration: Journey to the North by Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator) 4.03 avg rating — 489 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Women Who Caught the Babies: A Story of African American Midwives by Eloise Greenfield, Daniel Minter (Illustrator) 4.24 avg rating — 344 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator) 4.23 avg rating — 323 ratings — published 1978 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thinker: My Puppy Poet and Me by Eloise Greenfield, Ehsan Abdollahi (Illustrator) 3.82 avg rating — 223 ratings — published 2019 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Grandpa's Face by Eloise Greenfield, Floyd Cooper 4.06 avg rating — 172 ratings — published 1988 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Childtimes: A Three-Generation Memoir by Eloise Greenfield, Lessie Jones Little, Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator) 3.89 avg rating — 174 ratings — published 1979 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Africa Dream by Eloise Greenfield, Carole Byard (Illustrator) 3.90 avg rating — 106 ratings — published 1989 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Alaina and the Great Play by Eloise Greenfield, Colin Bootman 3.64 avg rating — 106 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Night on Neighborhood Street by Eloise Greenfield, Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Illustrator) 4.17 avg rating — 82 ratings — published 1991 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Eloise Greenfield…

Mahogany L. Browne is the author of Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poets Call to Justice, Woke Baby, and Black Girl Magic. She's also the...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Children's Books: Good Poetry Books?	38	231	Feb 23, 2013 08:24AM
The Readers Revie...: Croissants, Coffee & Tea -- Part the Ninth	904	193	Jul 14, 2014 05:53PM
Coretta Scott Kin...: * - CSK Cumulative Citations: 2019-2010	2	13	Dec 21, 2018 07:20PM
What's the Name o...: Books about: Children’s books about grandparents moving house?	5	27	Apr 26, 2021 12:50AM
Ersatz TLS: Literary Birthdays - May 17th through May 23rd	2	13	May 17, 2021 11:16AM
Children's Books: June 2022: Summer Fun pt 1 (Solstice, Bicycles, Nature Photography, Picnics, Sunglasses)	88	12	Aug 07, 2022 08:50AM

More…