Silly Street

Silly Street

Written by: Jeff Foxworthy

Illustrated by: Steve Bjorkman

HarperCollins, 2009

32 pages

Poetry

            I chose this book because I love Jeff Foxworthy. I loved watching the show “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader,” and I was curious to see how Jeff Foxworthy would be as an author. This book is full of silly poems that children will adore. Being a dad, Jeff Foxworthy has a great insight on children and their interests. This book takes the reader on a visual walk through Silly Street. On your journey down Silly Street, you will find “Daffy Dave’s Diner,” “Bubble Gum Tree,” “Daily Parade,” “Boo Boo McGrew,” “Perpetual Puddle,” and “The Biggest Tree House.” Silly Street keeps the little boy in the book entertained with all the whimsical characters and settings. 

            Silly Street was illustrated by Steve Bjorkman. Steve’s artistic medium for this book is watercolor. First, Steve sketched out the drawings in pencil. Then, he outlined the pictures with a pen. Finally, he went back over the pictures with bright vivid water colors. The whimsical characters are drawn with much expression. The bright vivid colors go along with the book’s light hearted, silly theme. Bjorkman’s drawings may seem messy because his lines are not even or symmetrical. I personally prefer drawings that appear neater and have cleaner lines. 

Silly Street is appropriate for grades K-3. This book could be used many ways in these grades. The poem, “House of Clocks” could be read before a math lesson. This poem would be a great way to introduce a math lesson about telling time. This is a silly poem about a house of clocks. I would use this poem for a first grade math lesson about telling time. For a first grade science lesson, I would use the poem, “Butterflies.” This poem uses words to give the reader a visual image of butterflies flying. If a teacher read this poem with expression, she could really get her students to visualize butterflies flying. For a second grade creative writing lesson, a teacher could read the poem, “The Biggest Tree House.” This poem is about a tree house on the side of Silly Street. The poem talks about the fun things the children do in the tree house. This poem would be a great way to prompt second grade students to do some creative writing. A teacher could prompt her students with, “Write about what you would do in ‘The Biggest Tree House.’”