A Light in the Attic

Title: A Light in the Attic
Author/Illustrator: Shel Silverstein
Publisher: Harpercollins; (1981)
Genre: Poetry
Readability Lexile: All Ages!
Summary and Target Audience:
This poetry book is one of my all time favorites.  It is full of fun and nonsense poetry with some rhyming and other poetic qualities.  Shel Silverstein tells us all about reflections, messy rooms, blame  and being tired in a laughable form that is appropriate for all ages.  Although I probably wouldn't begin this type of poetry until possibly Kindergarten students will love the short and exciting ways of creating memorable poems and enjoy  the sketches created on each page.


Evaluation of the Text:

Culturally Appropriate- Because all of the pictures are in black pen there are no colors and the characters range from animals to people who all look generally the same which is enticing for any reader.

Offensive Language- This collection of poems doesn't offer any degrading vocabulary .  However, be careful if sharing the poems with the younger students.  Some of the poems can be touchy and because of the maturity of the age of students you are working with there needs to be some monitoring so they are not using the poems or illustrations inappropriately.

Language- What I love about this collection is the various language.  Some of the conversations between characters is very casual while personal thoughts of characters may be portrayed in a more modern or proper manner.  The variety is wonderful, however, and really appeals to students creativity.

Literary Elements:

Theme- The main theme of these poems is looking at events that happen in everyday life with a little humor.  Some of the poems become personal or have an uplifting message but most are silly and reflect some irony in life.  For example, the poem "Tired" is about a character who is tired from the strenuous activity of laying in the grass which I absolutely adore.  "I've been lying here holding the grass in its place, Pressing a lead with the side of my face, Calling the fish to swim into my nets, And I've taken twelve thousand and forty-one breaths, And I'm TIRED!"

Conflict- The following poem is about the problem of nail biting. In this poem the character decides to look at the positives of the situation and use it as justification for biting his nails:
Some people manicure their nails,
Some people trim them neatly,
Some people keep them filed down,
I bite 'em off completely.
Yes, it's a nasty habit, but
Before you start to scold,
Remember, I have never ever
Scratched a single soul.
Characterization- The characters range from a variety of different situations and all look at life from a different angle which is what makes this book so much fun.  What I liked best was the variety of characters and the variety of opinions these characters had.  For example, to warm your heart, there is the poem of "The Little Boy and the Old Man:" 
Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

Illustrations:
As mentioned above, all of the illustrations are done by Shel Silverstein and do not posses any color which is fantastic and appealing to everyone.  The characters are a variety of different sorts and although sometimes his pictures may be seen as a little dark they do tend to focus on the humor side of the poem on the page.  Each poem has an illustration which gives a look at the poem.

Mini-lesson:
For a minilesson using some of these poems I would try teaching a lesson using the poem "The Fly is in" which is a scaffolded poem.  I would present this lesson and have the students use short ideas to explain an object that is in, on, under and bothering them at the current moment.  This would give the students an idea for how poetry can sometimes be organized and the creativity and fun that can be used with poetry.
The fly is in
The milk is in
The bottle is in
The fridge is in
The kitchen is in
The house is in
The town.
The flea is on
The dog is on
The quilt is on
The bed is on
The carpet is on
The floor is on
The ground.
The worm is under
The ground is under
The grass is under
The blanket is under
The diaper is under
The baby is under
The tree.
The bee is bothering
The puppy is bothering
The dog is bothering
The cat is bothering
The baby is bothering
Mama is bothering
Me.