I Like You, If You Like Me

Selected and Edited by: Myra Cohn Livingston
Title: I Like You, If You Like Me
Poems of Friendship
Publisher: Macmillan, 1987
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 160
Reading Level (Lexile): 730L

I found this book in the Children’s Section of the Library.

Plot Summary: Although this book is a collection of poems, they are organized into themes revolving around Friendship. The titles of each chapter are; “Lonesome All Alone”, “Would You Come and Be My Friend?” , “The Friendly Beasts” , “One Good Friendship” , “Come Over” , “We’re Going to Be Good Friends” , “As Happy as Happy Could Be” , “The Scratches Are Always There”, and “Missing You”. The poems are organized nicely into these themed chapters. The book is unique because it offers a mix of well-known poets as well as poems that span across different cultures and time periods. The book addresses various emotions that occur with friendship. Some of the poems reflect loneliness and losing friends while others reflect the happiness that comes with friendship.

I enjoyed reading through this collection of poems. It reminded me of other Anthologies of Poetry I have read before. I like this collection because it relates to my theme of friendship and offers poems by different poets. In other poetry collections, one author may be highlighted. This gives teachers and students exposure to different styles of poets. One poem I really could relate to was:

TWO FRIENDS

lydia and shirley have
two pierced ears and
two bare ones
five pigtails
two pairs of sneakers
two berets
two smiles
one necklace
one bracelet
lots of stripes and
one good friendship

Nikki Giovanni

I liked the tone and style of this poem as it represents two girls and what they share besides friendship. It also reflects how the girls are individuals and have things that are different from what their friend has.

I Like You, If You Like Me, is a great anthology to share with students. It celebrates the ups and downs of friendship. It allows students to reflect upon a poet’s style, word choice, voice, and tone. Students would also be able to tell the message of the poem. I think this anthology would be more appropriate for upper elementary and middle school students. With younger children, a teacher could definitely pick out some poems that may relate to a theme they are working on. These poems could be a nice addition to an introduction to a lesson or a discussion about friendship. Friendship is a common point of discussion in the early elementary grades because students are still learning how to interact with each other and maintain friends.