Shel Silverstein is one of my favorite writers and I knew I would choose one of his poetry books for this particular blog. In addition to Falling Up, Silverstein has written other books of poetry such as: The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and A Light in the Attic. Shel Silversteins' poetry is for children of all ages, but it does have a lot of hidden underlying meaning. Some of his poems are short and some are long. All are illustrated by him and are black and white drawings which are rudimentary; however, they can make you laugh and usually give you a good visual for the poem itself. One of his poems in Falling Up is very short: Stupid Pencil Maker: Some dummy built this pencil wrong--The eraser's down here where the point belongs. And the point's at the top--so it's no good to me. Its amazing how stupid some people can be. Can't you see a second or third grader thinking this about a pencil? Notice how it rhymes too.
Some of his poems are a page or two long and deal with subjects like "garbage," "diving boards," and "spoiled brats." Young children and adults can all relate to a poem written by Shel Silverstein. One entitled "The Nap Taker" is two pages long and rhymes all the way through......"I did not take that nap." I cried. "I give my solemn vow, And if I took it by mistake I do not have it now." This poem is a play on words about someone "taking a nap." Most of Silverstein's poems are written like this and are really written to connect with children and what they may be thinking about something, but might be too shy to say out loud. The front cover of all his books depicts what the artwork will look like through out the books. Falling Up and all of his other books can be used as a book to read to the class for fun or for a unit on poetry, how to write and illustrate poetry, and to learn more vocabulary words through a rhyming pattern. Shel Silverstein passed away in 1999 but is still remembered today as one of the great children's authors.I still read his poetry for enjoyment for myself and for my own children. All teachers should have a Shel Silverstein book of poems!!!!
Hi Gina! I have always loved Shel Silverstein too, although in my case he was kind of a forgotten gem. I haven't read any of his poems in years and I'm excited to start reading them again.
ReplyDeleteyou gave me the inspiration to start shelfari on my sight and I have really enjoyed adding to it. (form of flattery).I don't want Shel Silverstein to be forgotten so I am always going to be reading his poems to my class.........(that's the plan anyway...hahhahhha). I hope you enjoy his writing as much as I do!!!
ReplyDeleteSince you did Falling Up for your review is it safe to say that this is your favorite Shel Silverstein? I remember reading these poems as a kid and I never wanted to tackled those two-page poems. Instead I read the book for those short, punchy poems like "Stupid Pencil Maker." It's amazing how much Silverstein can pack in so few lines! Now that I have a greater stamina, I'll have to pull some of Silverstein's poetry out and read those poems I skipped all those years.
ReplyDeletelol, glad Shelfari is helping you too! I've been using it to help me organize the books I'm reading into certain tags, so its not totally unmanagable when I want something on a particular topic :)
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