After this assignment, I found Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic at our city's library and I was hooked. I loved the goofy and unrealistic lines he would come up with. It seemed like such an area of creativity. In fourth grade, we revisited poetry and I was so excited to try out what I had learned. My teacher's name was Zoover and I was thrilled to find a word to rhyme with that (hoover - as in vacuum). I became a big fan of Shel and have read most of his collections throughout the years. I also wrote poetry from that point on.
Now 20+ years later, I have introduced my kids to his books. We started with Where the Sidewalk Ends and it has been an interesting experience. I think due to having two RNs as parents and an older brother, I was exposed to things earlier than my kids. Plus, we watched scary movies like Pet Semetery and It at a very young age. So, I was surprised that some of the poems bothered Meli. She is only in first grade. She is still processing what is fantasy and what is real. She tells me which ones she would like to skip (based on the pictures) there was one where a guy is sitting on top of his head (that is not attached to him), that bothered her.
I told her several times that we did not have to read this book, but she asks for it all the time. She loves the poems as long as we avoid the ones with physical harm. Another one we skipped, the guy had a nail in his head. She focuses more on the image. The poems are not gruesome, but just odd and playful. So far, we have only had to skip two.
I was not sure if the kids would really like the book, but they are seriously hooked. Meli is doing better now that she understands that these are not real. She usually will go grab the book to make sure we include it in our story time.
Happy Reading!
Love, Hugs & Kisses ~ The B Family
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