Happy Birthday, Shel Silverstein!

If you are a dreamer, come in...

If there’s anything I hope we can all agree upon, it’s that we all love Shel Silverstein.

One of the most popular yet controversial poets of our time, the late Shel Silverstein’s birthday (9/25) has become a day to celebrate and honor his life’s work.  Paired with his whimsical sketch-like illustrations, kids (and kid’s parents) can’t help but be enchanted by Silverstein’s poems about the babysitter that sat on the baby, the prayer for a selfish child or the toy eater.  You may not be surprised to find out that Silverstein’s work is no stranger to “Banned Book” lists, especially my all-time favorite - A Light in The Attic – which was ranked among the top 100 frequently challenged books from 1990-2000 for content about disobeying parents and about supernatural forces.  Funny thing is, that’s exactly why we loved him as kids and why our kids still love him today.  He pushed the envelope just enough to draw us in, but never too much to make us believe that we’d really turn into a TV set just like Jimmy Jet.

In honor of Shel Silverstein’s birthday, visit Shel Silverstein.com for games, puzzles and printables.  Even better, watch a handful of animated poems on YouTube, illustrated and narrated by Shel, himself. And of course, open up a Shel Silverstein book and read your favorite poems to your kids, and them to you.

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

~Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends