Shel Silverstein is hands down, one of my favorite poets. I love this addition of "Attic" because it comes with a CD of poems read by Silverstein. Since I was a kid, my favorite Silverstein poem has been "Ladies First." After re-reading his work, and listening to the CD, I have to say that "Clarence" is new a favorite. ( )

OK, I'm going to come clean. I didn't like A Light in the Attic. At all.

Is everyone over their collective gasp of disbelief? Good. Let me explain.

I don't think I remember ever reading Shel Silverstein as a kid. I mean, I must have, right? Every kid has. But beyond The Giving Tree, I have absolutely no recollection of ever having picked up another book by Silverstein. My sister, on the other hand, loved him as a kid. Somehow, I just skipped over that bit of growing up, I guess. My sister loved him as a kid, and still loves him today as an adult. In fact, she has all of her copies of his books from when she was a kid. So, when I heard they were coming out with this anniversary edition of A Light in the Attic that included several new poems, my first thought was that I needed to get a copy for her for her birthday, and it was being released close to that date. My second thought was that I should also buy a copy for myself. I felt I should have a copy in my library, since everyone just goes on and on about him. For future reference, I'm going to simply read what my sister has, that way I won't feel like I wasted my money.

Now, don't get me wrong. I own The Giving Tree and love it. I reread itperiodically. I's a great little book. I cannot say the same of A Light in the Attic. I know the poems are geared towards kids, and that they are to be taken completely tongue in cheek, but that still hasn't stopped me from wishing I hadn't bought the book. I was actually shocked by the poems that dealt with kids dying (not that I'm so easily shocked by anything, really, but it really did come as a surprise to me) and thought some of them completely distasteful. Of course, to a kid, that sort of thing can be hysterical. I thought the illustrations were amusing, but not much more than that.

So, I think I missed my formative, Shel Silverstein-liking years. I guess to the right kid, these are great, but for my 34-year-old self who has never read them before and hadn't appreciated them as a kid... well, I won't be picking up another sampling any time soon. ( )

I love Shel Silverstein. I loved him when I first read this book as a kid and I still love it now as a grown woman! Fun illustrations and entertaining poems make this a very fun read! This poetry collection would be really fun to use with a group of students doing poetry breaks in the classroom. Some of my favorite poems in this collection:

-Prayer of the Selfish Child
-What Did?
-Something Missing
-Homework Machine
-Overdues
-Whatif
-Union for Children's Rights
-Clarence
-Almost Perfect ( )

Genre: Poetry - This book is a good example of poetry because it is a book just made up of poems. Every poem written in it is a certain kind of poem, the author of this book is an expert and is know for writing poems. In all of the poems every word has some sort of significance, and there is always some sort of figurative language used.

There is not setting, plot, or characters because it is a book of poems.

Art Media: Pen drawing

Style: There is a lot of rhyming in this book because they are poems, although they are different kinds of poems there is a lot of rhyming which works really well. It makes the book more entertaining to read.

This is a great children's book. The illustrations are very intriging but the stories are great.

http://www.shelsilverstein.com/indexS...