I just finished the book Where The Sidewalk Ends, a 183 page poem book. Shel Silverstein wrote many other poem books, and I’ve read most of them, and liked them. So then I wanted to read this one.

The poems in this book are very random, and that’s what makes them funny. Some of the poems in this book are like this, when you start reading them their not that funny and you’re wondering what this poem is going to be about. Then you read the ending and it’s completely the opposite of what you expected. Sometimes Silverstein likes to make the first and last poems different and not meant to be funny. The first one could be about him greeting you or to read the rest of the book, and the last one could be him saying goodbye to you or to read more of his books.

An example of a poem in the beginning of the book is called “Invitation.”

“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!” (Page 9)

This is a good poem because he did a good job rhyming at the end of the lines, and it introduces the start of the book well.

I liked the way the author composed each poem, and made all them rhyme. It must be hard for him to try to think of a word that rhymed with the last word of the line.

This book reminded me of the other books from him that I read. Some of the poems I thought I have seen before. I wonder if he duplicates any of the poems by accident and he has to delete them.

I was surprised when I looked at how much pages this book had. He thought of so many different poems and even on some pages there were two on a page. I wonder how long it takes to think of those poems and how he thinks of those poems?

I would give Where The Sidewalk Ends an 8/10.

Coco Skrtich