Reveiw: Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

Here's my first book review! I'll explore with review formats in the future. Enjoy!

Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Author: Shel Silverstein
Description: (from the book jacket)
If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer,
A wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er,
A magic bean buyer . . .

Come in . . . for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound.
(This copy is the 30th anniversary edition with 12 additional poems)

My Thoughts: Where the Sidewalk Ends is a fun collection of Shel Silverstein’s fanciful poems and drawings. The hilarious black and white illustrations make the poems shoot off the page and come to life. It’s a great book to read aloud to kids (or anyone else who’ll listen). Most of the ideas are ridiculous like eating countries in “Hungry Mungry” or a turtle that falls for a bagpipe in “The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No”. But it’s a fun journey with some poignant moral-of-the-story moments too. This is definitely one of those I-should-have-read-it-by-now books. So if you haven’t read it or it’s been a while, pick up a copy for National Poetry Month (NPM). This is the first of three poetry books I hope to read in April for NPM.

What I Liked Most: The cute and whimsical writing! Here is one of my favorite poems in the book:

     LISTEN TO THE MUSTN’TS (pg. 27)
     Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,
     Listen to the DON’TS
     Listen to the SHOULDN’TS
     The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS
     Listen to the NEVER HAVES
     Then listen close to me—
     Anything can happen, child,
     ANYTHING can be.
My other favorite poems are “Colors” (pg. 24) and “Mr. Grumpledump’s Song” (pg. 171).

What I Liked Least: Don’t read it in one sitting. It becomes one long, wacky poem if you read too many in a row. I appreciated them more when I broke up my reading. Plus, I started this book late during the 24 hour read-a-thon…so I’m sure that had something to do with it.

More Like This: Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree.
Bottom Line: A MUST-read for all ages.
My Rating: 4/5

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month!  National Poetry Month celebrates the importance of poetry in America.  There are so many ways you can participate—read a book of poems, attend a poetry reading, support local NPM events. Visit the Poets.com National Poetry Month website (from the Academy of American Poets) to find poems, search for events and discover other great ways to celebrate. While you're there, browse the new releases of poetry books.  I don't usually read poetry, but these titles look interesting to me:

Vacations on the Black Star Line by Michael Cirelli

Shoulder Season by Ange Mlinko

Let’s Not Keep Fighting the Trojan War: New and Selected Poems 1986-2009 by Edward Sanders

I'm going to set a goal of reading three poetry books this month to celebrate!  I might try to get one of these books newly released titles.  I'll post reviews of what I read later this month. 

For the tech savy poetry enthusiast, check out this Poem Flow App for iPhones and iPod Touch.