[BOOK REVIEW] Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Title:  Where the Sidewalk Ends

Author:  Shel Silverstein

Genre: Poetry / Comedy / Children

Year Published: 1974

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Death, Some Suggestive Themes and Some Rebellious Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

 “Where the Sidewalk Ends” is another book of poems from the creative mind of Shel Silverstein, who is the popular author of “A Light in the Attic.”  This book details poems about silly people and animals doing crazy activities.  Even though this book has some suggestive content, children will easily be delighted in this book for many years. 

Shel Silverstein has done an awesome job with both illustrating and writing this book of poems.  Shel Silverstein’s writing is witty and creative as uses bizarre creatures and humans to summarize each poem in a humorous way.  The poem that I thought stood out the most was the poem about Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who refused to take the garbage out and meets a grisly end (even though he never mentions what happened to her) and that poem expresses the moral that it is important to take the garbage out when it is needed and how one must listen to their parents when doing chores.  Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are hilarious and crude as he illustrates each character with long limbs and exaggerated expressions and I also love the way that Shel Silverstein puts the illustrations in black and white format which is mostly found in chapters books for both children and adults. 

Parents should know that there is a great deal of suggestive content in this book mainly revolving around the topic of morbid humor and the topic of God.   The two poems that might be the most controversial would be “Ma and God” and “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the Garbage Out.”  In “Ma and God,” the poem talks about how Ma always tells her child to not do bad things, even though God has created the bad things for the child to do.  For instance, one passage mentions that mother tells their children to eat their vegetables, but God creates sweets for children to eat.  This poem might give children the wrong message about God and parents might want to teach their children about religion before they read them this poem.  In “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the Garbage out,” the garbage overflows the house and eventually the city when Sarah refused to take the garbage out.  This poem might worry small children who think that if the garbage overflows their house, then they will meet a tragic fate too.  However, the poem merely tries to teach children to obey their parents and parents should try to comfort their children about this poem and the importance of taking the trash out. 

“Where the Sidewalk Ends” is another great classic book of poems from Shel Silverstein and it will surely help engage children into the world of poetry.  I would recommend this book for children ages six and up due to the suggestive themes of God and some morbid humor that younger children might not understand.

* 1976 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee

* 1984 George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Recognition of Merit Award

* 1996 Golden Archer Award for Intermediate

 REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For promoting drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth and authority and rebellion against parents.  Also, for the poem "Dreaded" over the line "someone ate the baby" as they feared it might encourage cannibalism.

 

         

[BOOK REVIEW] A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Title:  A Light in the Attic

Author:  Shel Silverstein

Genre: Poetry / Comedy / Children

Year Published: 1981

Year Read:  2009

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Some Suggestive Themes and Death)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 “A Light in the Attic” is one of Shel Silverstein’s best yet most controversial books of poems ever written.  This book is full of poems about clowns, pirates, monsters and all manner of strange people and animals doing crazy things.  “A Light in the Attic” may be too suggestive and morbid for smaller children, but older children will easily delight themselves with the silly shenanigans of the characters.

Shel Silverstein’s writing is as witty as it is funny as he writes each character’s stories in a poetic prose.  One of the funniest poems I have read was “Squishy Touch” when the main character turns everything into Jell-O.  Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are highly creative as the images make the characters look scratchy and also I love the images being presented in black and white colors, a technique that is usually used for long books.  The image that probably stood out the most was the image of the Gink as it has a large mouth with sharp teeth and the image of the kids coming out of the Gink on the next page.

Parents should know that there are some suggestive and morbid content in this book that young children might not understand.  One poem that might be too suggestive for children would be the poem “How not to have to dry the dishes” as it entices children to break the dishes in order not to dry them.  Another poem that might be too morbid for children would be “Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony” as it deals with the death of a child and parents might want to explain to their children about the concept of death before they read this poem.

“A Light in the Attic” is an excellent book about silly poems about silly people who do crazy stunts and it will surely be an instant for many children young and old.  I would recommend this book to children ages six and up since smaller children might be a bit disturbed by the suggestive and morbid content displayed in this book.

* 1984 George C. Stone Center for Children's Books Recognition of Merit Award
* 1985 Vlag en Wimpel (van de Griffeljury)
* 1988 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee
* School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
* Garden State Children's Book Awards

* American Library Association (ALA) Notable Book

* William Allen White Award (Kansas)

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: The poem "How Not to Have To Dry the Dishes" was criticized for encouraging kids to be messy and disobedient, while the poem "Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony" was criticized for describing the death of a girl after her parents refused to buy her a pony. Also for discussing supernatural themes such as demons, devils and ghosts.

 

[BOOK REVIEW] The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein

Title:  The Missing Piece

Author:  Shel Silverstein

Genre: Life / Humor / Adventure

Year Published: 1976

 
Year Read:  2013

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 3+  (Nothing Objectionable)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Even to this very day, I am still reading Shel Silverstein’s works and I am finding them much more interesting than ever before!  Now, I have recently picked up another book by Shel Silverstein called “The Missing Piece” and man, was this one enjoyable read!

Basically, this book is about a circle who is missing a piece of itself and how it tries to find its missing piece through snowy weather and through mountains.  While on the way, the circle meets up with several triangular shaped pieces that the circle tries on itself, but none of the triangular pieces would fit the circle.

Shel Silverstein has done it again in providing us a book that tries to give out a lesson in life, just like his well-known and controversial book, “The Giving Tree.”  I loved the fact that this story tackles the issue about people going on personal journeys to find their true purpose in life and in this case, the circle was trying to find its missing piece to make itself complete.  That is a truly insightful way to state the theme of people trying to find their goals in life and I am sure that children will easily understand the message of this book, even if it is told in a completely simplified way.  I also loved the little song that the circle sings as it goes on its journey to find its missing piece which goes something like this:

“Oh I’m lookin’ for my missin’ piece

I’m lookin’ for my missin’ piece

Hi-dee-ho, here I go,

Lookin’ for my missin’ piece.”

Shel Silverstein’s illustrations are cute and simple and I enjoyed seeing the images of the circle crossing across various landscapes to get to his destination such as rolling up a mountain, going through a swamp and trudging through a snow storm.

Overall, “The Missing Piece” is a truly memorable and inspiring tale about understanding your goals in life and pursuing them whenever you desire to and children will easily enjoy this tale for many years! I would recommend this book to children ages three and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.

[BOOK REVIEW] Falling Up by Shel Silverstein

Title:  Falling Up

Author:  Shel Silverstein


Genre: Family / Surreal / Poetry


Year Published: 1996


Year Read:  2013

Publisher:  Harpercollins Childrens Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 6+ (Some Suggestive Themes and Scary Situations)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Ever since I was little, I have been a huge fan of Shel Silverstein’s works as they were creative, controversial and hilarious to read through!  I have practically read almost all of Shel Silverstein’s works including “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” “A Light in the Attic,” and “Every Thing On It” and I had enjoyed every single one of them!  Now, I have finally read another one of Shel Silverstein’s books called “Falling Up” and it was just as enjoyable as Shel Silverstein’s other works!

This is another book that has a set of Shel Silverstein’s famous poems and some of the poems featured in this book include:

FALLING UP

I tripped on my shoelace

And I fell up-

Up to the roof tops,

Up over the town,

Up past the tree tops,

Up over the mountains,

Up where the colors

Blend into the sounds.

But it got me so dizzy

When I looked around,

I got sick to my stomach

And I threw down.

Once again, Shel Silverstein had piqued my interest in his talent for writing surreal and hilarious poetry that interest children as well as adults!  I loved the wacky style that Shel Silverstein puts into the poems as the characters are always doing bizarre things such as in the poem “Complainin’ Jack” where a Jack-in-a-box just complains all day and in the poem “Rotten Convention” where there is a vast array of horrible characters such as Hamburger Face and Gruesome Grace attending a convention.  I also loved Shel Silverstein’s artwork as it is mostly in black and white colorings and is truly surreal to look at.  Probably my favorite illustrations in this book was of the image of the pet lion in the poem “Unfair” as it looked incredibly creepy and surreal at the same time and the characters from the poem “Rotten Convention” as they look truly frightening and surreal, especially the image of a man who has a knife going through his head.

Parents should know that like most of Shel Silverstein’s books, there are some poems that might either frighten children or cause them to perform the crazy stunts that the characters did in this book.  Probably some of the most suggestive poems in this book would be “Crazy Dream” which involves a child having a dream about torturing his teachers and that might convince small children to do the same and “Spoiled Brat” where a child is eaten alive which would frighten small children.  Parents should probably read this book before they show it to their children to see if they can handle the content in this book.

Overall, “Falling Up” is a truly brilliant book that contains some of Shel Silverstein’s most memorable poems and many adults and children will definitely enjoy the wacky humor of these poems!  I would highly recommend this book to children ages six and up since there are some suggestive content in this book that adults might want to discuss with their children about.

[BOOK REVIEW] Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein

Title: Every Thing On It

Author: Shel Silverstein


Genre: Short Stories / Humor / Surreal / Poetry



Year Published: 2011



Year Read: 2013

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Suggestive Themes)

After reading many of Shel Silverstein’s books including “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and “A Light in the Attic,” I stumbled upon one of his most recent books, which is called “Every Thing on It” and it is just as surreal and hilarious as his previous works!

Basically, this book contains poems written by Shel Silverstein and some of my favorites include:

All Packed

“Me and Joe, we’re all packed up,

Me and Joe, we’ve got our tickets,

Me and Joe, we’re set to go-

Hey, wait a minute…

Where’s Joe?

Whoosh

My hair blower worked in reverse today-

There’s really not much more to say.

What I always loved so much about Shel Silverstein’s books is that the books are always surreal and hilarious, making Shel Silverstein’s books so creative to read through.  I have always thought of Shel Silverstein being like Dr. Seuss as his poems would usually have a rhyming scheme and often has outlandish situations happen to the characters; however Shel Silverstein’s poems are often much edgier than Dr. Seuss’ poems since most of his poems involves characters getting hurt or eaten.  But, it is that slightly dark quality that I always loved about Shel Silverstein’s poems and this book definitely did not disappoint me in this approach!  I loved the surreal nature of these poems as the characters would often meet creatures that are seriously out of this world, such as the poem “My Zoootch” where the bird-like creature actually helps scare a child’s nightmares away.  I also loved Shel Silverstein’s illustrations as they are bizarre and simplistic at the same time and I think the black and white colorings of the illustrations really made this book even more unique from the other children’s books.

Parents should know that there are some suggestive poems in this book that includes characters getting hurt or eaten by various creatures.  One poem that might disturb small children is the poem “My Hat” which shows an image of a small children wearing an extremely frightening hat that is shaped into a scary face and the illustration of the hat is so detailed that small children will be terrified by the image.  Parents might want to read this book before they read it to their children to see if their children can handled some of the somewhat disturbing poems in this book.

Overall, “Every Thing on it” is a truly superb book for children who are fans of Shel Silverstein’s works and are looking for books that have surreal images and poems!  I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since it is extremely lengthy and some of the poems might be a bit too suggestive for younger children.