Falling Up

Written and Illustrated by Shel Silverstein

Appropriate for any grade (my activities are designed for 3^rd grade)

            Do you like silly nonsensical things?  Do you love to imagine what would happen if things were different? Do you love to travel?  In Shel Silverstein’s Falling Up you’ll be able to do all of this and more!  Follow along as you meet a slew of interesting characters that take you on journeys and teach you great life lessons, all while enjoying a few laughs along the way.

            Shel Silverstein released his third book of poetry, Falling Up, in 1996 and it has been a beloved by everyone ever since.  Shel begins the book with the title poem “Falling Up” and immediately engages readers in an imaginative world where characters can do unbelievable things, such as trip on their shoelace and fall up into the sky!  Throughout the book Shel introduces several fantastical ideas such as tattooing all of your clothes on your body in “Tattoin’ Ruth,” visiting a zoo that houses people rather than animals in “People Zoo,” and what exactly would happen if the sun and moon got into a fight in “A Battle in the Sky.”  Although these poems do have morals and messages, such as not to fight or bicker, Shel allows young readers to simply enjoy a silly poem rather than lecture them.  Other poems throughout have a more direct message such as “The Voice,” which reads:

            “There is a voice inside of you,

            That whispers all day long,

            ‘I I feel that this is right for me,

            I know that this is wrong.’

            No teacher, preacher, parent, friend

            Or wise man can decide

            What’s right for you-just listen to

            The voice that speaks inside.” (Silverstein 38)

Obviously this poem is much more straightforward as Shel tells readers to listen to their hearts and minds when making decisions.  It is this ability to reach readers, of any age, on their level and deliver important messages without being boring that I admire in Shel.  If you read the rest of the book you’ll meet several other characters throughout the 120+ poems.  Some of the characters are: Mari-Lou who had a swing ride go terribly awry, Sybil the Magician and her little bunny, Gene who is very clean, and Danny O’Dare the dancing bear among many others. 

            There are several themes that are present throughout the poems for example Shel present the idea that there are consequences, both good and bad, for your actions.  For example in “Screamin’ Millie” Millie McDeevit screams so loud that her eyebrows steam and her head even fell off, he ends the poem with a note to screamers  “And that’s what happened to Mille McDeevit (At lease I hope all you screamers believe it)” (Silverstein 44) Another poem that speaks of consequences is “Complainin’ Jack” a poem about a girl who listens to Jack, of the jack-in-the-box, as he complains about many different things that are wrong with his box.  Jack annoys the little girl so much that she closes him back in. Both of these poems are warning of what may happen if you are bothersome to others. 

            Another theme present in the book is that although sometimes you wish for something it may not be what you truly want.  In “No Grown Ups” children are thrilled that the game they’re playing doesn’t involve parents but quickly realize they like them around when it comes time to pay for something.  Also in “A Use for a Moose” the narrator talks about how you can hang all of your clothes on a moose’s antlers, and then he walks away with all of them.

            What makes Shel’s work even more amazing is the accompanying artwork throughout the book.  It appears as though it is just pen and paper, so the drawings are fairly simple but they lend illustration support to younger students, and also add humor to the poems as well.  Another great aspect of the art is that if there are two poems side by side on the page Shel often uses one image that corresponds to both poems.  For example on pages 48-49 there are two poems “Weird-Bird” and “Stone Airplane” above the first poem is a bird, presumably the “Weird-Bird”, below the poem is the town that the bird inhabits.  The nifty part is that the town continues onto the next page up onto a little hill with the stone airplane and it’s pilot resting atop it.  These small attentions to details provide a great amount of continuity to the illustrations, which further enhances an already amazing book.

            I believe that it is quite clear that this book falls under the genre of poetry, due to the fact that it is filled with poems, however the text does offer some helpful information about poetry.  For example, it is important to foster a love of poetry, just like any other genre, in your classroom so that children don’t fall victim to finding poetry boring.  Shel’s poems, I feel, would work wonderfully for this as they get their point across without being boring, and even being quite comical at times. The text also offers several forms of poetry, which Shel’s poems fall under.  Most of the poems included in Falling Up would fall under the category of limericks, which are humorous poems that were made popular in the 1840’s. Also, the argument could be made that some of the poetry in the book could fall under lyric poems, which are melodic and song like.  For example the poem “Yuck” found on page 151 follows a very evident rhyme scheme and a melodic tune could easily be applied to it.

            There are several ways that I could implement this book in my classroom.  For example I could have students construct poems that are inspired by Shel’s whimsical style, or I could have them analyze a few of the poems and write a description of their analysis. However, I feel that both of these options would be unbelievably boring for students.  For this reason, after much consideration, I think I would implement the poetry a little bit differently.  During my poetry I would try and incorporate as many poems as I can throughout the day into my teaching as a way to immerse the students in the poetry.  I would use many different authors but as examples of Shel’s poems I could read “Every Lunchtime” before bringing them to the cafeteria, or if we were studying astronomy I would read “A Battle in the Sky,” before art I would read “We’re Out of Paint So… ,” before indoor recess I would read “Sharing,” and before Geography I would read “Hungry Kid Island.”  Hopefully by doing this I will peak the students interest in poetry, I would be sure to keep several poetry books in the library and encourage students to read them during SSR.  Also, I would give students the option to write their own poetry during journal writing time.  In addition, during ELA we would explicitly talk about a few different poems and authors, but I would be sure to introduce them as my favorites and show the children why I love poetry. Lastly, at the end of the unit I would give the students a final assessment where they could either create a piece of artwork to go along with their favorite poem, write their own poem, do a small author study on their favorite poet, or write a short description of their favorite poem and explain why they like it.  Students will then present their “poetry performance” to the class. Hopefully, by allowing students to choose which assessment they would like to complete they will not encounter the common problem of finding poetry daunting and boring.

Standards:

RF 3.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

RF 3.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

W  3.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

SL 3.4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

L   3.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.