Bala oftadan

Bala oftadan

All the things that children loved about A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends can be found in abundance in this eclectic volume, Silverstein`s first book of poetry in 20 years. By turns cheeky and clever and often darkly subversive, the poems are vintage Silverstein, presented in a black-and-white format that duplicates his earlier books. Like Roald Dahl, Silverstein`s cartoons and poems are humorously seditious, often giving voice to a child`s desire to be empowered or to retaliate for perceived injustice: one child character wields a `Remote-a-Dad` that will instantly control his father, and another dreams of his teachers becoming his students so that when they talk or laugh in class, he can `pinch `em `til they [cry].` The poems focus on the unexpected-a piglet receives a `people-back ride` and Medusa`s snake-hair argues about whether to be coifed in cornrows or bangs. Sometimes the art traffics in gross-out, as when William Tell gets an arrow through his forehead or a cartoon character sticks carrots in his sockets because he`s heard that carrots are good for his eyes. Although some parents and teachers may cringe at such touches, Silverstein`s anti-establishment humor percolates as he lampoons conventions (the stork not only brings babies but `comes and gets the older folks/ When it`s their time to go`), or discards decorum (a small gardener zips up his pants after watering the plants `that way`). No matter that the author`s rhythms and rhymes can be sloppy, or that his annoying insistence on leavin` off the endin` to his ING`s seems artificially folksy, Silverstein`s ability to see the world from, as he says, `a different angle` will undoubtedly earn this book a wide audience. All ages.