Shel Silverstein, Poetry, Boys and Reading, Poetry for Children

I started reading chapter books when I was four years old, imagining myself putting on a show with Annie Oakley, sleeping on a bed of pine needles with the Boxcar Children, and traveling in a wagon with Ma and Pa Ingalls. When my boys were born, I couldn’t wait until they were old enough to enter magical fictional worlds . . . and I was devastated when they were uninterested. They’d spend hours with a snake encyclopedia or guide to rocks and minerals, but my attempts to engage them in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh were met with yawns. And then my older son received a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends for his 6th birthday. Thanks to Shel Silverstein and his perfect imagination, we read and laugh together nightly. To say that his poems are funny or interesting merely scratches the surface. Shel Silverstein had a gift for giving voice to topics that roll around silently in most kids’ brains and are dismissed by adults. Silly topics like belching (Rudy Felsh), scary topics like getting sucked down the bath drain (Skinny), and important topics, like how we’re all alike inside (No Difference). His poems address these topics without condescension, preaching, or advice—they have just the right amount of humor and irony. And though they seem silly at first, they often touch upon a deeper truth about how kids feel and think. A great example is the poem What a Day, which describes how it feels to have the weight of the world on your shoulders—a feeling many adults incorrectly assume is reserved only for grown-ups. Uncle Shelby writes: What a day/Oh what a day./My baby brother ran away/And now my tuba will not play./I’m eight years old and turning grey/Oh what a day/Oh what a day. Indeed. I highly recommend this book, as well as his other poetry collections (A Light in the Attic, Runny Babbitt, etc.). I like to think of the poems as small bridges across the generation gap. Not only will you laugh, you’ll also remember what it’s like to be a child. And, if you’re like me, you just may find that the poems mirror your dreams and desires for your children. As Mr. Silverstein says: 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.

A Mom Who Loves to Read and Write
http://www.castthatbook.blogspot.com

Phonics, Books, Books for Kids, Reading to Children

My mother was a remedial reading specialist for many years. I grew up helping her prepare activities for her classrooms. She always taught to many learning modalities and when teaching reading, she celebrated phonics.

As I work in classrooms today and help children learn to read through interactive games on the computer or in the books I write, I always remember my mother and her commitment to teaching phonics. When I asked her what a word was, her consitent reply was always, "Sound it out." To this day, I consider phonics the number one way to teach children to read.

Bonnie Worthington
Author, Engine Ed's Colorful Train

Parent's Read to Your Children, Books, Parenting

I don't have a particular favorite book, but I do have thoughts on how important it is for parents to read to their children from a very young age.

I have 4 girls of my own and thus exposed to several parents who some read to their kids and others who have never. I have known parents who promote more TV, than books and education etc. For the last 13 years I have been watching children as mine grow up and looking at other on how they bring up children. Not to say I'm doing anything right, or that any other parent is wrong, that's not my point here, its just an observation on children behavior, about kids that have a parent reading and bonding with the child vs those who use the TV as a sitter till bed time.

Christopher Koster
Billy Goat Soaps

Magic Tree House #13, Vacation Under the Volcano

I enjoy this entire series. The Magic Tree House series is a neat way for kids to learn about history and geography and have fun reading too. The stories always start out with the main characters, Annie and Jack going to the tree house and it flies away on an educational adventure. These books, written by Mary Pope Osborne, have 10 easy chapters and are best suited for kids ages First grade to fourth grade.

Vacation Under the Volcano takes the kids to Pompeii, Italy and the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius during the days of the Roman Empire. They are on a mission to save a sacred scroll. It's fun, adventurous and highly recommended.

Bookmom, Bonnie Worthington
Author, Engine Ed's Colorful Train

The Children's Hour

The following is a contribution from Mr. Cal Worthington

My favorite Chidren's story really isn't a story at all. It is a poem. My favorite poem in all the world is called the Children's Hour by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This story is so touching. It is about a Grandfather, who while in his study reading, is aware that his precocious grandchildren are plotting and planning a happy, surprise attack on him. He is aware that they think is doesn't know they are coming down the staircase to ambush him. The poem is told from the Grandfather's point of view. I would like to reprint the entire poem here, but for brevity's sake, I will just include the last three stanzas and leave the blissful discovery of the rest of the poem up to you. The poem ends like this:

"Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!"

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Being a father and grandfather myself, I cherish this poem and all the sweet moments in life, just like it, that I have had.

Cal Worthington
Auto Dealer

Catwings Return

This adorable tale by Ursula K. Le Guin is a short, 5-chapter book that for young readers (or parents who like to read to kids). I thought it was delightful.

The story is about two magical, cats who can fly, who take off on an adventure to the old alley they used to live in. During their visit, they stumble upon a little kitten in danger of being injured by a wrecking ball. The cats, in their attempt save the kitten are briefly reuinited with their birth mother, and find out that the kitten is their sibling from a different litter. In the end, the two traveling cats, (Harriet and James) take the kitten home to their farm in the country. It's a cute book with a happy ending.

Bookmom, B.W.
Author, Engine Ed's Colorful Train

It's Hard To Be Five

This was a book I wasn't so crazy about. Most of the moms I talked to didn't really like this book either for many of the same reasons I have, however; some moms were neutral. The book seemed like it should have been titled, It's Hard to be the Mom of a Five Year Old Like This One.

The book is about a boy who is turning five, who fights with his siblings (including food and juice fights) and really doesn't have such a good go of being five. It seems like a lot of negative vibrations going out that don't have to. Why put thoughts like that in a child's head, when life for many five-year-olds is really great? The book seemed messy, the font is jagged and the graphics seem messy. It didn't really seem to have a very positive theme like so many children's books do.

One mom I know said she related to the book because that is how her life is. So there are probably many people who don't dislike the book. I wouldn't purchase it as a gift or choose it for my child. The book is by Jamie Lee Curtis.

Bookmom, B.W.
Author, Engine Ed's Colorful Train