Every Thing On It

Title: Every Thing On It

Author & Illustrator: Shel Silverstein

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: September, 2011

Genre/Format: Poetry/Anthology

Summary: A collection of unpublished poetry from Shel Silverstein published posthumously. 

What I Think: Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that I agonized about how to rate this book. I love Shel Silverstein and before this book I would have said "and everything he writes"; however, I cannot say that any more. Every Thing On It was such a mish-mash of poems. I think that Shel may not have put him in his other anthologies because he knew that they did not work. Some as fantastic, carefree and fun as I remember Shel, but others were not. Some were thought provoking. Some were depressing. Others were just plain weird. And I did not like the depressing and weird ones. Maybe in a different context- an adult poetry book where you are expecting Shel's darker side, but not in a book that is sitting right along side his other fun-loving children's anthologies. But then how do you rate something like this? There were some poems that were definitely a 1 star for me, more that were 2, even more that were 3, some that were 4 and some that were 5. So, I went with a 3. Average. But this 3 star, does not represent all of the debating that went on in my head very well. 

Snatch of Text: 

"Years From Now

Although I cannot see your face

As you flip these poems awhile, 

Somewhere from some far-off place

I hear you laughing- and I smile." (p. 9)

"The Problem

Jim copied the answer from Nancy

Sue copied the answer from Jim

Tim copied the answer from Sue, and then

Ann copied the answer form him

And Fran copied Anne and Jan copied Fran

The Answer kept passing along

And no one got caught, but the problem was- 

Nancy had it wrong." (p. 181)

For my snatch, I want to share ones I liked, not the ones I didn't.  
If you are interested in seeing the ones that I wish were not in the book, check out: 

p. 111, 114, 117, 120, 126, 129, 132, 135, 146, 171, 177 

Mentor Text for: Poetry, Rhyming

Writing Prompts: Write a rhyming poem and accompany it with a drawing.