Every Thing On It

Every Thing on It

Written and Illustrated by Shel Silverstein

Scholastic Inc., 2011

195 Pages

Poetry

          I chose this book of poetry because Shel Silverstein is a very well-known poet, and I have not read any of his books since I was a child. This book is a wacky book that students in upper grades would enjoy. Through all of the wacky wording and ideas, there are good lessons that can be taught through his poetry. Such as in this poem, “Masks,”

She had blue skin,

And so did he.

He kept it hid,

And so did she.

They searched for blue

Their whole life through.

Then passed right by _

And never knew.

That is a great poem about being true to yourself and not hiding who you really are. I love that poem, and there are several more to explore that have great morals throughout this book. 

          Silverstein uses pen and paper to create his simple yet detailed illustrations. The illustrations are done in a vignette, single page, and double page illustrations. The lack of color and the use of negative space draw the reader’s eye to the illustrations that are as wacky as the poems! He uses formal and informal text placement in his book. 

          Every Thing on It is a great book to use in language arts to introduce poetry to second to fourth grade students, and have them write their own wacky poem. The poem, “Masks,” could be used as a character education lesson on being true to who you are and self-esteem. This book could also be an example in art of using pen and paper to create works of art, and have students create a drawing using pen and paper.  This book has not received any awards.