Good Morning To You, Valentine: Poems For Valentine's Day

by Lee Bennett Hopkins (Editor), Tomie dePaola (Illustrator), John Updike (Contributor)

A collection of poems that celebrate Valentine's Day features the work of William Shakespeare, Shel Silverstein, and other distinguished writers.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Lee Bennett Hopkins was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2017. He holds a Guinness Book of Records citation for compiling the most anthologies for children. He has also received the Christopher Award, the Regina Medal, and the National Council of Teachers of English Excellence in Poetry for Children Award. He lives in Florida.

For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ben...

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poet and editor Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrator Tomie dePaola, who also collaborated on such collections as Beat the Drum, Independence Day Has Come: Poems for the Fourth of July and Easter Buds Are Springing: Poems for Easter , joined forces in this Valentine title from 1976, presenting twenty-three poems from a variety of sources. Authors such as John Updike ("February"), William Shakespeare ("Tomorrow is Saint Valentine's day") and Shel Silverstein ("Valentine") are represented, but quite a few of the poems are from the pen of the prolific "Anonymous..."

Despite being an admirer of Tomie dePaola's work, and enjoying a number of Hopkins' other thematic holiday poetry collections for children, from Hey-How for Halloween! to Merrily Comes Our Harvest In: Poems for Thanksgiving , somehow Good Morning to You, Valentine: Poems just didn't speak to me, and I found myself mostly indifferent to it. The poems were short and not particularly memorable, and the artwork, although cute, didn't make a strong impression on me. Tastes vary, of course, and other readers might feel differently, so if you're in the market for a Valentine's Day poetry collection for children, you might give this one a go.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I expected better.

[Nick So'oto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Morning To You, Valentine is a book full of anonymous poetry that people wrote to their loved ones of Valentines Day. The book is filled with beautiful short poems that consist of at most 40-50 words, but mean so much more.

When I picked this book, I didn’t even open it I simply grabbed it off the shelf because it was blank, and had a cool color to it. When I opened it, I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be a book full of beautiful poems to loved ones. Reading some of the poems made me think of the people I adore, and made me appreciate them a little bit more today. Although the book was mostly poetry, the author fit some simple illustrations in the book, and they were pretty interesting, I loved them! All and all, I definitely think this is one of the best books I’ve read yet simply because every page is a new story.

If I were to use this book in the classroom, I would obviously use it to teach poetry. I think instead of writing poetry, and having the generic lesson, I would have my students pick poems from this book, and try to dissect them, looking deeper into the meaning and placing of every word.

[Linzi Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genre: Poem book

Reading Level: 1-3 grade

Topics & Themes: Valentine's Day poems for children

Curricular Use: Read-aloud to introduce poetry to children

Social: Poem book for the Valentine's Day holiday

Literary Elements: I think this is a great book to begin to introduce poetry to children and to get them involved with writing poetry.
Text & Pictures:I really like how each page has it's own illustrations to depict that certain poem on that page.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was not impressed with all the poems in this book. Some of them were cute, but the majority just didn't do anything for me. I liked Tomie's illustrations though. I probably wouldn't recommend.

*Taken from my book reviews blog: http://reviewsatmse.blogspot.com/2009...

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that the illustrations in this book are all done in red and white. It's funny, as I read this I thought that it looked very '70s, and it is: published in '76. Some of the poems collected here are nice, some are silly, and some seem a bit advanced for the target audience. If it's still in print it would make a nice little Valentine's Day gift.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite poem:
I love you, I love you,
I love you divine,
Please give me your bubble gum,
You're sitting on mine!

Anonymous

[Deb Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy poetry and found this collection of valentines poems quite nice

[Danelle Spicer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of poems all based around Valentine's Day. The poems are very sweet and different from the usual Valentine's poems I have read.