Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein is a really distinctive and versatile author. He was a well known poet, playwright, illustrator, screenwriter, and songwriter. But he was mostly recognized for his popular children’s books including The Giving Tree, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic, Silverstein has brought joy to millions of readers around the world, becoming one of the most popular and best-loved children's authors of all time. One of his famous poetry books is Where the Sidewalk Ends that was published in 1974 by Harper Collins in New York. This book is one that I grew up with and I am very excited to get to use it for a whole new purpose with this assignment.
The first point on the evaluation is lively rhythms and meters. In the poem The Toucan, the rhythm is fun and catchy. The word toucan alone is a unique one, and he was able to find words to rhythm and work with this fun word. “Just how few can ride the toucan? Two can.” In that last line he was also unique in the way that he changed to word Toucan to Two can. I thought that was a creative way of catching the young readers off guard. Another point to the evaluation is for the sound and wordplay. I thought that the poem Jumping Rope displayed just that. In a lot of poems that author will rhyme every other word. But in this one, every word rhymed with rope. Rope, dope, rope, hope and rope was the pattern throughout the poem. The balance of repetition gave the poem that catchy rhythm that kids remember even when they are older. There is an unnamed poem in the book. This filled the criteria for the way of using the poem in a visual way. Shel Silverstein uses a picture of a giraffe’s neck, but it is made of words. He talks about how difficult it is to run on the neck of a running giraffe. It was by far the most exciting poem that I was able to find in the book. It definitely would expand the imagination of a child’s mind. Not only will it make the child try to understand, but it gets the wheels turning in their
The first point on the evaluation is lively rhythms and meters. In the poem The Toucan, the rhythm is fun and catchy. The word toucan alone is a unique one, and he was able to find words to rhythm and work with this fun word. “Just how few can ride the toucan? Two can.” In that last line he was also unique in the way that he changed to word Toucan to Two can. I thought that was a creative way of catching the young readers off guard. Another point to the evaluation is for the sound and wordplay. I thought that the poem Jumping Rope displayed just that. In a lot of poems that author will rhyme every other word. But in this one, every word rhymed with rope. Rope, dope, rope, hope and rope was the pattern throughout the poem. The balance of repetition gave the poem that catchy rhythm that kids remember even when they are older. There is an unnamed poem in the book. This filled the criteria for the way of using the poem in a visual way. Shel Silverstein uses a picture of a giraffe’s neck, but it is made of words. He talks about how difficult it is to run on the neck of a running giraffe. It was by far the most exciting poem that I was able to find in the book. It definitely would expand the imagination of a child’s mind. Not only will it make the child try to understand, but it gets the wheels turning in their