When I was a child, my father gave me Where the Sidwalk Ends. And with every book he gave me, he gave me something quite intangible–a love of reading. On my sixteenth, it was a stack of books. And somewhere along the way, he gifted me the Biograhpy of John Steinbeck. (If you’ve read NBTAM, you realize the significance of that!) Back then, perhaps, I muttered, “Thanks for book, Dad,” but now, I am very grateful for all of them. Without them, I may have never found a love for reading…become an English teacher…and written a book…
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 the fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!
Perhaps, I should have posted this on day one. It’s so inviting–just like a good poem. I have known many teachers who have posted this on the door to their classroom. 🙂
Kimberly Blackadar 
Shel Silverstein is awesome, I have been telling my daughter about your blog postings because she loves to write and read poetry, well last night at dinner, her and my wife both agreed that Shel Silverstein was both of their favorite poets. This is a great piece. So friendly and so inviting (duhhh, hence the name) ha ha ha. I can see where many teachers would post this one. I am all of the things that he mentions, I think we all are, so we should all meet by the fire and tell our tales……Good Job, Kim, Good Job… 🙂
Thank you, Tom. I’m sure you passed your love of writing and reading down to your daughter. What a great gift to have given her!
Wonderful!
Hi, Ann! I just found your comment in the “spam” file. Isn’t that funny? Hope you feel better, my friend! 🙂
I have two of Silverstein’s books. Love his work. How nice that your father gave you such wondrerful books and a love of reading. Books were not a priority in our home.
Enjoying your poetry week.
Bev
Yes, I am truly lucky to have had the influence of my parents.
I’m glad that you are enjoying the poetry. It is a nice change from self-promotion: necessary, but it gets old after a while! 🙂
Speaking of promotion, are you going to post any excerpts from your upcoming release? If so, I’m eager to read it. I love historical fiction. Being that I used to teach an English/social studies block, I value the genre!
Hi KIm,
Yes, I will be posting excerpts of Caves. I’m just so far behind. Or I’m slow. Or something. Must get my act together. Thanks for asking. I found the story about the siege of Vicksburg fascinating, and there aren’t as many books about it as there are about other battles in the CW.
Bev,
I’m looking forward to reading it–sounds great! What is the grade level?
Hi, Kim. The publisher lists Caves as YA, ages 12 +. Lizzie is 14. It might be okay for MG too.
Then it would make a great read-aloud for my son. He’s going into second, but he’ll listen to anything. He’s on a Chronicles of Narnia spree right now. But he always like historical fiction. He’s sort of outgrown Magic Tree House a bit, but likes to time travel with a good book still.
An inviting poem, indeed!
I have my copy of the Pearl by Steinbeck here on my desk, a long time favorite author of mine. Books were my only friends growing up, I doubt I would have survived without them.
I am truly enJOYing your offerings this month Kimberly!
Thank you!
My goal is to work my way through Steinbeck’s literary career–just as the protagonist in my novel did. Good choice of a favorite author, Ruthi. His imagery amazes me. The opening of East of Eden…ahhh….
I just inboxed you on Gather. I am very excited about posting your poem next week.
Kim
I don’t know about second grade, Kim. It has a lot of talk about killing and death and war. However, some of my former students who now have children of their own, have bought my books and read them with their children, like you mentioned. They say the kids skim over things they don’t understand, or else the parents explain to them.
Bev
Yes, it’s hard to find historical war fiction that isn’t too graphic, huh? Well, maybe I can read excerpts to him. Have a great weekend, Bev. I’m excited to read it–loved your synopsis and reason for writing the novel!
In this poem ,the poet shel silverstein invites for listing tales.Also he invites a dreamer,a writer,a liar,a hopper,a prayer and a magic bean buyer.He request these to go near him and listen the different tales for pleasure.Also he explains the important of reading.So he invites different types of people for listening the tales.According t him,knowledge is power.If we have knowledge, we can understand the human life and the world.
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