In celebration of the second posthumous publication of Shel Silverstein’s poems, a 1973 animation of ‘The Giving Tree’ has been released.
The new anthology “Everything On It” contains never-before seen poems and drawings. There is a fabulous article on NPR that goes ‘behind the scenes’ into how the collection was put together and gives a sneak peak of some of the poems from the book.
On choosing poems for the book, the editor worked closely with the poet’s family and tried to stay true to the aesthetic of his other books:
The right-hand side of every page had to entice young readers to turn to the next page. The poetry needed to be arranged carefully to create a mix of funny, poignant and naughty.
This comment made me think of my role as a teacher – what am I doing in my classroom each day to entice my students to ‘turn the page’. Do I provide opportunities for funny, poignant and naughty in my classroom. How will I make sure that what happens at school is poetry – because is that not what our kids deserve – more poetry in their lives?
Celebrate Poetry Month this April, Shel Silverstein style.
sonya terborg 
Love it! Love how you focus on “critical teaching” (for lack of a better description) with your thought-provoking self-questioning of “what am I doing in my classroom each day to entice my students to ‘turn the page,” etc.. On a completely different note, however, I am not a huge fan of The Giving Tree, but that is a whole ‘nother story! Shel Silverstein still rocks!
Thanks Audrey! One of my goals for this blog was to provide for myself as much as others, a way to reflect on who I am and want to be as a teacher. I didn’t just want to post content for the sake of sharing ‘something fun’ but to think about it’s implications. Would love to hear about your mis-givings about the giving tree sometime…