Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends"

Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends"Whenever I walk on the sidewalks, I always avoid the cracks in order to ensure the safety, health, and well-being of my mother’s back. Possibly due to this mentality or maybe because of the sidewalk reference in the title, but more than likely because of the sheer genius of the book, I still like Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends" after all these years.

Even as a grown-up person, I love how the illustrations go with the poems, and how the subjects of the poems sometimes reflect the real-life day-to-life situations of kids including entire poem about taking away the garbage out and the absurd which is reflected by another poem about Martians with a clever illustration of an alien with a head in a rather curious place.

The odd thing is that what most of would consider a joyful book teaching children a new and interesting way to look at the world has made the list of banned books numerous times. According to this article, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" has been banned for suggesting, “drug use, the occult, suicide, death, violence, disrespect for truth, disrespect for legitimate authority, rebellion against parents."  That was in Wisconsin. Apparently, there have been other book bannings of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" for even stranger reasons, such as encouraging Cannibalism.   

I’m not sure where many of those themes were found; I did, on the other hand, find poems with strong anti-tv and anti-war messages, which most parents would consider positive. There are also poems about the importance of bathing and another illustration/poem depicting the hazards of eating too much during the holidays. How can these poems be bad for kids?

In fact, there is a poem that you would think creationists would like, discussing how the world is flat and Columbus is wrong. Hopefully, parents would be able to joke with their children about this poem or show them a globe to prove that the world is in fact round. However, as this book is targeted to kids who still believe in Santa Claus, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem and I really hope that this would not affect your decision as "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is truly a fantastic book.

The illustrations in the book are all black and white sketches that are cleverly placed on the page.  Even the front cover of the copy I have (which I’ve taken everywhere with me since I was a little ragamuffin myself) is nicely illustrated with a little girl and a dog peeking off the edge of the sidewalk, seemingly oblivious to the “Keep Off” sign warning them to stay away.