Friday, April 30, 2010

National Poetry Month Blog Tour: The Girl's Thoughts on Shel Silverstein

The Girl (age 9) is happy to be part of her Auntie Serena's National Poetry Month Blog Tour.  Here are her thoughts on her favorite poet, Shel Silverstein.

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Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) was a cartoonist and poet known for his children's books, like The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, and Where the Sidewalk Ends.  I love his poems because they are hilarious and fun to read out loud.  Here are my favorites:

CROWDED TUB

There's too many kids in this tub.
There's too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind
That I'm sure wasn't mine,
There's too many kids in this tub.  (from A Light in the Attic, page 86)

JIMMY JET AND HIS TV SET

I'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet--
And you know what I tell you is true.
He loved to watch his TV set
Almost as much as you.

He watched all day, he watched all night
Till he grew pale and lean,
From "The Early Show" to "The Late Late Show"
And all the shows between.

He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,
And his bottom grew into his chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial,
And antennae grew out of his hair.

And his brains turned into TV tubes,
And his face to a TV screen.
And two knobs saying "VERT." and "HORIZ."
Grew where his ears had been.

And he grew a plug that looked like a tail
So we plugged in little Jim.
And now instead of him watching TV
We all sit around and watch him.  (from Where the Sidewalk Ends, pages 28-29)

And my favorite of them ALL:

THE LOSER

Mama said I'd lose my head
If it wasn't fastened on.
Today I guess it wasn't
'Cause while playing with my cousin
It fell off an rolled away
And now it's gone.

And I can't look for it
'Cause my eyes are in it,
And I can't call to it
'Cause my mouth is on it
(Couldn't hear me anyway
'Cause my ears are on it),
Can't even think about it
'Cause my brain is in it.
So I guess I'll sit down
On this rock
And rest for just a minute... (from Where the Sidewalk Ends, page 25)

I love the pictures just as much as the poems because they go together.  In "The Loser," instead of sitting on a rock, he's sitting on his head.  That's hilarious.  Kids and grown-ups will find Shel Silverstein's poems "funny-ish cool."  (I made that up by myself.)

Disclosure: My copies of A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends were gifts.  My mom is an Amazon affiliate.



© 2010, Anna Horner of Diary of an Eccentric. All Rights Reserved. Please do not copy or reproduce content without permission.

19 comments:

Suko said...

I love this post! The hand is a wonderful touch. We have a few Shel Silverstein books ourselves.

Serena said...

I really love Shel Silverstein's poems and The Loser was my favorite, especially because he was sitting on his head!

Thanks for participating and please remind mom to put your post link in Mr. Linky and to send it to Winabook!

Oh, and today starts the voting for favorite posts from the tour!

bermudaonion said...

Oh, how Vance loved Shel Silverstein's books! We would read them together and laugh and laugh. Great post!

Beth(bookaholicmom) said...

My kids are much older but we still have their copies of Shel's books. We still laugh about them to this day. This a great post! Love the hand!

Anonymous said...

These poems are wonderful, great pick to present for the blog tour!

Valerie said...

My daughter is almost 12 and she loves Shel Silverstein. I remember a couple years ago when she decided to complete her Silverstein collection with money she got for her birthday.

Great post!

Unknown said...

I loved Shel's poems when I was a kid. Now, my 9-year-old son loves them just like you do!

Sullivan McPig said...

These poems were also translated to Dutch and I read those a long, long time ago, but I loved them and they (together with the poems of Annie M.G. Schmidt, a Dutch writer) started my love for poetry.

Jeane said...

I remember growing up with Silverstein books around the house. My five-year-old has just discovered them, and she loves the poems! She laughs so hard. She never knew poetry could be so much fun!

The illustrations just make them perfect. I don't think you could have one without the other.

Lisa said...

I'm in total agreement with The Girl--Shel Silverstein rocks! And as wonderful as those poems are, the drawings really make the books.

Iliana said...

I think Shel must have been my first favorite poet. His poems just put a smile on my face. Glad to see the Girl is enjoying them too!

bookmagic said...

I love Silverstein. Awesome post by The Girl!

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Hey, doll. I got this up at Win a Book for you.

When my daughter was in first grade, her teacher had them all pick some Silverstein poems and put on a presentation to the class. It totally rocked.

Ladytink_534 said...

I always adored Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky as a kid! There are several poems of both that I have memorized thanks to studying them in school.

Kristen said...

Crowded Tub is quite possibly my favorite Silverstein poem ever. I used to quote it frequently when I had my whole crew in the tub together at bathtime. ;-)

Marie Cloutier said...

Great post! He was one of my favorites too. I think his books were the first volumes of poetry I owned.

Anna said...

Thank you all for stopping by for The Girl's very first blog tour! I'm glad to see that we're not the only ones who enjoy Silverstein's poems.

Suko: I honestly don't know who the hand belongs to, but it was my favorite of the blog tour buttons.

Serena: Thanks for letting The Girl take part in the tour.

Sullivan McPig: I'll have to check out Schmidt's work.

Susan: Thank you very much! I appreciate it. With the funeral, etc., I totally forgot to e-mail you the link.

Ladytink: I'll have to check out Prelutsky, too.

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

Thanks to The Girl for sharing her thoughts! Shel Silverstein's books are favorites around here, especially when we stumble as we try to read them aloud -- so many laughs!

Anna said...

Dawn: We have so much fun reading them, too, and we find ourselves reading the same ones over and over...and we never get bored.