Children's Poetry

Most of the books I've blogged about have been stories, but now I'm going to go off the beaten path a bit and talk about poetry.
When my three where little, they loved poetry, especially before they went to sleep.  Depending on what I chose that is. Years later I was informed by my oldest, that I made a strategic error in picking the poem, "Little Orphant Annie" /The Goblins Will Get You if You Don't Watch Out as a bedtime poem. In retrospect it was pretty stupid, and explains the reason why my kids would have nightmares!
But our other favorites were fun. "The Owl and the Pussy Cat", "Casey at the Bat" <aka the tale of my Mets> and our all time favorite, "The Tale of Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash were all a part of our nightly routine.
Most children's writers skip the poetry in favor of stories but writer Sheldon Silverstein, a true Renaissance Man didn't. He wrote songs, stories and poems. He also illustrated them. 
While being a children's writer is what he best known for, Silverstein also wrote for adults. He published cartoons in a certain well known adult magazine <think Hugh Hefner> and won a Grammy for the song "A Boy Named Sue" which Johnny Cash performed. You can see what I mean about being a Renaissance Man.
The book I want to mention today"Where the Sidewalk  Ends" is a book of poems by Silverstein.  My personal favorite out of the book, is "Ickle Me, Tickle Me, Pickle Me Too."  But you might enjoy "Naked Hippo" or "The Unfunny Jester".  The 25th anniversary edition released 11 additional poems. So there will be 11 times the enjoyment. Each of his poems while written for children, can be equally enjoyed by adults. His poems, can be happy, sad or silly, but never boring.
Shel Silverstein died in May 1999 but his imagery and writings live on.I highly recommend any books by Shel Silverstein, but especially the poetry books. You'll be glad you did.