Title: Silly Street
Author: Jeff Foxworthy
Illustrator: Steve Bjorkman
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Childrens’ poetry, picture book
Age level: 5-8
Themes: Silliness, childrens' fantasies, rhyme schemes
Synopsis: There’s a flying squirrel circus, pink elephant races, and even a pony that eats fried baloney. At the candy book you can buy gummy yum noodles and rainbow jaw busters. At the hat store you can purchase a helmet, a tiara, or a halo- if you happen to be an angel. From the comedic mind of Jeff Foxworthy, author of the bestselling Dirt On My Shirt, comes another hilarious collection of poems. Kids will have so much fun reading these poems, they’ll wish they actually lived on Silly Street.
Synopsis: There’s a flying squirrel circus, pink elephant races, and even a pony that eats fried baloney. At the candy book you can buy gummy yum noodles and rainbow jaw busters. At the hat store you can purchase a helmet, a tiara, or a halo- if you happen to be an angel. From the comedic mind of Jeff Foxworthy, author of the bestselling Dirt On My Shirt, comes another hilarious collection of poems. Kids will have so much fun reading these poems, they’ll wish they actually lived on Silly Street.
About the author: Jeff Foxworthy is one of the most respected and successful comedians in the country. He is the largest-selling comedy-recording artist in history, a multiple Grammy Award nominee, and bestselling author of more than twenty-three books, including the New York Times bestselling Dirt On My Shirt. He hosts the hit television show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? And his syndicated weekly radio show, The Foxworthy Countdown, is carried in more than 220 markets across the United States.
About the illustrator: Steve Bjorkman has illustrated more than seventy books for children, including Dirt On My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy; Emily’s Everyday Manners by Peggy Post and Cindy Post Senning; I Hate English! by Ellen Levine; and Safari Park by Stuart J. Murphy. He also creates greeting cards with his brother, Carl, and together they have sold millions through Recycled Paper Greetings. Steve lives with his wife and three children in Irvine, California.
Pre-reading activities: From looking at the picture and the title, the students will close their eyes and imagine what they think it is like on Silly Street and what types of animals and objects they will encounter.
Post-reading activities: Students will be given their own poem from the book (students will be given two poems if they are shorter). The students will read the poem, and write down the shop or place mentioned in the poem(s) as well as some things to do there. Then they will write 3-4 sentences discussing if they would like to visit that place, why or why not, and some things they could also do at that place.
Reflection: This book allows children to dive into their fantasies, going into a never-ending candy store, mile-high ice cream cones, and a sand box as big as a city block. Silly Street allows the reader to be just that, silly, on a street of locations they could only dream of. When I was reading these poems, I was thinking back to my childhood and the things I would have loved to encounter, and children will feel the same way as they read this book.Works cited:
Barnes & Noble
Silly Street picture
For a post reading activity, students could also write there own version of a silly poem like these. This will ultimately show students they school and learning does not always have to be serious and they can have fun with it. If students have fun writing these poems, students that possibly did not enjoy writing before, might become inspired to write.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea!!! I feel like an idea like this would definitely help students who don't enjoy writing to possibly become inspired when given an idea like writing their own silly poem. They could add some things they really like (like playing with legos or dolls) or something they would want to do (like go to the moon).
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