SHEL SILVERSTEIN
PAGE ONE: BACKGROUND INFORMATION Sheldon Allan Silverstein (b. September 25, 1930/d. May 10, 1999) Author, Cartoonist, Songwriter University of Illinois- expelled, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts & Roosevelt University Drafted into United States Armed Forces during 1950s Worked as cartoonist for Playboy magazine, then a friend suggested he write/draw for material aimed towards children Interest in Art: "When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there - I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball, I couldn't dance... So, I started to draw and to write.”
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PAGE TWO: SILVERSTEIN’S STYLE Silverstein’s writing Rhyming schemes (…But so delicious, goodness sake- I could have eaten a lentil-soup lake.) Plays on words, unique diction (…Would a mop become a mopsicle? Would a cop become a copsicle?) Irony/Figurative language (Can anyone lend me two eighty-pound rats? I want to rid my house of cats.) Silverstein’s illustrations Black and white, printed on “special” paper Refused to have books published in paperback Excerpts from A Light in the Attic & Where the Sidewalk Ends
PAGE THREE: SILVERSTEIN ON THE WEB Great resource for both young learners and educators Wide variety of games, printables, animations Lessons, activities, event kits Ideal for visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, auditory learners
PAGE FOUR: SHEL IN THE CLASSROOM Ideas to integrate Silverstein into curriculum “The Giving Tree” (Civics lesson, Arbor Day, Earth Day, Thanksgiving) Create student journals with poems, students draw accompanying pictures Remove title of poems to make inferences, create own title or story based off of image, to encourage higher-level thinking
RESOURCES Amick, Sarah. (2009). Shel Silverstein. Librarypoint. Retrieved 2 June and-activities/ and-activities/ Sheldon Allan Silverstein. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 5 June silverstein silverstein