Every Thing on It

Every Thing on It: Poems and Drawings
by Shel Silverstein
Harper, 2011

Genre: Poetry, Humor

Honors:

• Booklist 09/01/11
• Horn Book 11/01/11
• Horn Book 04/01/12
• Kirkus Reviews 08/01/11
• Publishers Weekly starred 07/25/11
• School Library Journal starred 09/01/11

Review: This recent collection of poems from the Silverstein archives is filled with absurdities and humorous complementary drawings. His poetry discusses the every day (such as moving, eating out, and playing games), the ponderings of children, creations of the imagination, situational comedy (how about a horse so hungry it could eat a child? or a monster that is afraid there is a child under its bed?), and so much more. There are over one hundred fascinating poems, from one paragraph to one-and-a-half pages in length, making for loads of laughs and endless Silverstein goodness.

Opinion: I remember reading a lot of Silverstein's poetry as a child, but for the life of me, I can't remember any specific poem that I had read. But this book and its drawings really took me back. I know that these poems click best with the younger folks, but the wonderful thing about Shel Silverstein is that children grow up remembering how much they enjoyed his poetry and they return to it again and again. I had several fourteen-year-olds requesting his books when I worked as a school librarian, and it seemed like I could not provide enough copies to satisfy.

Ideas: I would love to do a read-aloud of Silverstein's poetry, complete with audio and visual effects. It seems like a book that a storyteller could have a LOT of fun with!