Poetry

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein

HarperCollinsPublishers, 2004

183 pages

Poetry

        This book of collected poetry was recommended to me as an elementary school student. The teacher I had showed us many of his poetry books and I fell in love. I have since been drawn to these books even as an adult they are quirky and fun to read. My favorite from this book is, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. It is a very detailed poem about nasty silly food being left inside instead of being taken out. It finally begins to be too much but by that time there was just so much. Will Sarah take the garbage out? Read her story on page seventy one of Where the Sidewalk Ends to find out!

         The illustrations in this book are done with pen and ink. Some illustrations are simple and some are more complex. They all tie into and make each poem to where you can visualize it happening. Some of his illustrations are rather odd but they bring out his genius as an artist. There is also a lot of blank space on the pages. He shows you what he wants you to see with no “background noise” along with it.

         This book is appropriate for an older elementary school classroom, third through fifth grade. I feel some of the poems there are some words that are inappropriate for lower grades than third. Using this text in a writing lesson, center work, or small group would be great. I think it would be great to pick out a few poems from this book and let each student pick a title. After they choose tell the students to write a poem from the title they have chosen. After the students finish the poem they will read there poem. After they are done reading they will look at Shel Silverstein’s poem. You could then compare and contrast their poem to Shel Silverstein’s. This book has won ten awards including New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year. It has been in circulation since 1974 and was republished in 2004 for its thirty year anniversary. Follow this link to hear Shel himself read a selection from Where the Sidewalk Ends! http://youtu.be/CNiaYHZme_U