Falling Up

Summary

This is a collection of poems of varying lengths. These poems are sometimes humorous and nonsensical. This book is full of unforgettable characters and clever poems that will be appealing to children of all ages. 

Genre

Poetry

Poetry is more than just "[c]ondensed language" (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p.12). "Poetry is the shorthand of beauty; its distilled language captures the essence of an idea or experience and encompasses the universe in its vision" (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p.13).

"Poetry combines rich meaning with sounds of language arranged in an interesting form" (p. 139). Poets beautifully manipulate language by employing poetic devices, such as imagery, rhythm, and rhyme (see Figure 4.2 on page 147) to create meaning in an artistic way that it sounds appealing not just to the ear, but also to the mind and spirit. Excellent children’s poetry “speak to our sense of delight, wonder, recognition, or emotional state” (Galda, Cullinan, & Sipe, 2010, p.144). Figure 4.1 on page 144 depicts a checklist for assessing quality in poetry. Excellent poetry should demonstrate an interesting as well as understandable content and an innovative language that is careful in its word choice and is rich in poetic devices to enhance meaning. Outstanding poets structure a poem in a way that the form helps its readers to understand the poetic subject or mood. 

Illustrations

Shel Siverstein accompanies his poems with black and white thin sketched lines drawings. They help the characters described in the poem become more lifelike and readers are able to interpret the poem beyond the literal meaning. 

Classroom Activities

Activity 1

Compare and contrast the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost with "The Voice" from Shel Siverstein. Ask:

Do you see similarities between these poems? 

What is The Voice? 

Is there really a voice inside you?

Activity 2

Inspect Falling Up for poetic devices and its effects.

Personal Response

Falling Up won the Golden Archer Award, Maine Student Book Award, ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice, Parents' Choice Gold Award.

 Author's Background Information

Other Works

• The Missing Piece Meets the Big O
• Runny Babbit
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Who wants a cheap Rhinoceros

Reference

Galda, L., Cullinan, B.E., & Sipe, L.R. (2010). Literature and the child (7^th ed.). Belmond,CA:Wadsworths, Inc.

Silverstein, S. (1996). Falling up. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.