Falling Up: Poems and Drawings

Falling Up is a collection of free verse poems that plays on children's imagination and experiences. The rhythm, rhyme, and use of high-frequency words makes the poems sound natural and very easy to read for children ages 6-9, and the use details and sensory imagery is very effective. For example, in the "Diving Board," Silverstein accurately portrays a child's anxiety and fears of jumping off a diving board:

"You've been up on that diving board
Making sure that it's nice and straight.
You've made sure that it's not too slick.
You've made sure it can stand the weight.
You've made sure that the spring is tight.
You've made sure that the cloth won't slip.
You've made sure that it bounces right,
And that your toes can get a grip--
And you've been show more up there since half past five
Doin' everything...but DIVE."

The "Diving Board," and other poems in the collection incorporate repetition to the extent that the technique pulls the plot and the setting of the poem together and keeps the reader's attention well. The poems are highly purposeful as the intention is to amuse children and make sense of experiences about growing up. In, "The Toy Eater," the reader is told they don't have to pick up toys because a "Terrible Toy-Eatin' Tookle," will eat it all up. What child hasn't been threatened with punishment if they don't clean up their room? But reading about the "Tookle" is a humorous take on that particular childhood experience.

This series of poems is an entertaining way of introducing poetry to children. show less

Re-read for Solomon's bedtime story.

Many many moons ago, when I spent the summer as a Girl Scout camp counselor in Alaska, Sarat sends this to me as a part of a care package and it remains one of my favorite books that I've ever received as a gift. I probably would have though of myself as "too old" to have bought this for myself at the time, but I loved it then, and I love getting to share it with my kids now. Fun to read, fun to read aloud, and fun to gawk at all the illustrations together -- it's a fantastic family read-aloud.

It makes me want to invest in more children's poetry, while at the same time I wonder what else could possibly hold up to Silverstein's goofy wordplay and imaginative irreverence?

Falling Up by Shel Silverstein is a personal favorite of mine for three reasons: the illustrations, the unconventional poems and the hilarity found throughout the poems and illustrations. The illustrations are black and white presented on thick, cream colored pages the juxtapose the poems they are depicting. The poems are unconventional in nature and this fact can draw in various types of readers. Falling Up contains a collection of the most nonsensical and zaniest poems a reader can hope for. Importantly, they are hilarious and keep the audience smiling, giggling and laughing. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good laugh and an appreciation of poetry.

Summary: This is a book of creative play on words and puns that turn everyday events and ideas into poetry. Shel Silverstein uses alliteration, as well as exaggeration among other things to express his many ideas in poetic form. This is a great example of the fact that you can put anything you want to say into poetry.

Personal Reaction: I love Shel Silverstein and the way he creatively expresses an idea that you may never have considered. The crazy, imaginative topics that he uses challenge you to think outside the box. The illustrations in the book are just as imaginative, in fact I am often not sure which came first the poem or the illustration. There are various lengths of poems as well as styles in this book so everyone is sure to show more find something they like. My personal favorites are the ones that include some element of realism. Peoplezoo is one of my favorites because I had never thought about a zoo that way. I also enjoyed Bituminous putting real world scientific vocabulary into fun literature is incredible and challenges children to dig deeper, while at the same time learning that science is fun.

Classroom Extension:
1. This is an obvious choice for an introduction to poetry. Children will see the many different elements of poetry in his book and can adapt to any style in writing their own poem.
2. Perhaps taking an illustration and writing a poem based on the illustration would be fun for students. I especially like the idea of giving them an opportunity to draw anything they like and then having them write a poem about it, having not known that was why they were drawing the picture it is sure to be interesting. show less

This volume contains a number of absurdist poems by Shel Silverstein that run the gamut from grooming a porcupine to a child dreaming of teaching his teachers. As a kid, I loved this title and Silverstein's other popular poetry books, A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends. They are still silly and fun, although as an adult I noticed more of the disturbing bits here and there (e.g., an illustration of a child with an arrow through his forehead, a father putting golf balls off of his son's nose, etc. etc.). As long as a child isn't easily made uncomfortable by things like that, this book is still fitting for its audience, even if there's one or two dated references (VCR player anyone?). The illustrations blend perfectly with show more the text and/or serve to further illuminate it, often putting the finishing touch on a joke. Some of the wordplay might actually be over some kids' heads, but there's plenty here for them to enjoy. show less

It feels a little shameful to give something by Shel Silverstein an "average" rating, since his books are decidedly not average books. However this book didn't rise up for me - it is a rather large collection of Silverstein's zany poems and drawings. There are some very good poems in here, but unfortunately I thought quite a few were not so great - they tried too hard perhaps. At their best the crazy drawings are an integral part of the poetry - word play that one might not even really understand until you look at the drawing and then go "A-ha!"

I liked this book for two reasons. First, the illustrations were simplistic and the style fits the written text. All of the illustrations are in black and white and look as if they were drawn with a pen. The simple designs follow the short and simple poems throughout the book. Because some of the poems feature abstract and unusual characters, the illustrations help the audience envision and follow along with the poem. The simple illustrations help fit the written text and also provides the audience with an image to help engage and keep the audience motivated to continue reading. I also liked this poetry book because the language is descriptive and entertaining. For example, there is a poem about a jack-in-the-box. The author uses humor show more and the repeating phrase of in-the-box. Silverstein writes, "This morning my old jack-in-the-box Popped out. . . There also is a crack-in-the-box, and I never find a snack-in-the-box, And sometimes I hear a quack-in-the-box, 'Cause a duck lives in here too" (p. 9). With the humor of using "in-the-box" on each line, Silverstein uses intriguing language, but also provides a detailed description of the toy. He appeals to the audiences' five senses and uses these to enhance the description of the jack-in-the-box. Overall, the big idea of this book is to take the audience on a imaginative journey through the life of Millie through rhyming poetry. show less