It is the rhythm and depth of feeling that connects the reader to the message of each poem. The lack of familiar structure makes the text challenging. The poems are about emotion and recollection that, as everyone knows, are not bound by conventions of Standard English. An excellent exercise would be to have children study a page of illustrations and write their interpretations of what the character is feeling, thinking, needing, or longing for.īecause the poems are lyrical and rhythmic, the text does not adhere to grammatical rules such as sentence construction, subject verb agreement, and punctuation. Young readers feel young Nathaniel’s thoughtful presence through the illustrations and portraits. Spivey’s charcoal and pencil drawings are poignant, capturing the nuances of Greenfield’s poetry. “Pat your foot on each beat, that is, whenever you reach a number. “Read the verse aloud,” Greenfield encourages her readers. The book concludes with an author’s note, A Note to my Friends, that explains the rhyme pattern and beats of the twelve-bar blues poems and a verse of My Daddy rewritten, complete with bar breaks. Greenfield’s verse is musical as well as lyrical, beginning with Nathaniel’s Rap, continuing with the rhythmic “ clack clack clackety clackety clack” of Grandma’s Bones, and the “twelve-bar blues” poems of My Daddy and Watching the World Go By. Greenfield touches on themes of growing up, the death of a mother, family, friendship, learning from elders, optimism, and love.

Free, a nine year-old African American boy. Nathaniel Talking by Eloise Greenfield and illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist is a book of poetry for elementary students describing the philosophy of Nathaniel B.

New York: Black Butterfly Children’s Books. Nathaniel Talking: African American Picture Book of Poetry and Rhythm

Grandmama's Joy by Eloise Greenfield