Love Is a Handful of Honey

Title: Love Is a Handful of Honey  
Author: Giles Andreae
Illustrator: Vanessa Cabban 
Publisher: Little Tiger Press
Publication Date: 1999   
Genre/Format: Fiction/Picture Book 
Summary: A bear family talks about what love means to them. 
What I Think: I think this book is a great way to talk about metaphors.  There is almost a metaphor on every page.  There are also endless metaphors about love so it's a great examples to use.  I don't know how middle school or high school students would react to making a "love is..." metaphor, but I think it would be something they could relate to.  This might be a great Valentine's Day activity!   
     I love the song "Happiness is..." from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.  You could also show students the lyrics to the song and play it for them as an example of metaphors.  It might be a good idea to give them an option to write either a "love is..." or a "happiness is..." metaphor.
Read Together: 1 - 12 
Read Alone: 3 - 12 
Read With:  Heaven Is Having You By Giles Andreae;
Snatch of Text: "Love is that highflying feeling
That makes you leap out of your bed.
Love is what makes you throw open the curtains
And somersault round on your head."
Reading Strategies to Practice: Activating Background Knowledge, Making Connections, Visualizing 
Writing Strategies to Practice: Metaphors, Personal Narrative 
Writing Prompts: Think about what love or happiness means to you.  Write 5 metaphors that include either "love is..." or "happiness is".  Write about a time in your life when you felt loved or happy, use metaphors to describe how you felt.   
Topics Covered: Family, Love, Happiness 
Translated to Spanish: No