Falling Up

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

Brief Annotation: Silverstein poems are famous for being popular with children and Falling Up is no exception. I could spend all day writing about all of the poems in this book but I choose a couple to write about. “Snowball” is a tale of child who wants to keep a snowball as his pet. The snowball runs away but not before wetting the bed. “Diving Board” is a poem of a boy who is afraid to dive so he makes up excuses as to why he is spending so much time inspecting the board. “Furniture Bash” is the tale of how all the furniture got broke. Spoiler alert, there was a furniture fight. Finally, “Crazy Dream” is a poem about a boy who dreams he is a teacher. All of the tales in Falling Up are relatable to kids, easy and fun to read.

Genre: Poetry

Grade Level: 9-12

Readers who will like this: People whom like short humorous poems about silly things that happen to kids either in their dreams or in their lives. The poems are relatable to children like “Safe” and “Why is It”

Response/Rating (1-4): ****Silverstein books are all classic poem books. They are generally easy to read and fun. Everyone has his or her favorites but the whole book is a joy to read.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: Have you ever written a poem?