Valerie's Reviews > A Light in the Attic

Recently, I started re-reading A Light in the Attic with my younger daughter, who's four-and-a-half. I think when I first read it I must have been about eight or nine years old, because I remember reading it myself, and loving it. (I must have checked it out of the library about a million times.) What's not to love? Shel gives us such gems as:

BEAR IN THERE
There's a Polar Bear
In our Frigidaire--
He likes it 'cause it's cold in there.
With his seat in the meat
And his face in the fish
And his big hairy paws
In the buttery dish,
He's nibbling the noodles,
He's munching the rice,
He's slurping the soda,
He's licking the ice.
And he lets out a roar
If you open the door.
And it gives me a scare
To know he's in there--
That Polary Bear
In our Fridgitydaire.

and

HOT DOG
I have a hot dog for a pet,
The only kind my folds would let
Me get.
He does smell sort of bad
And yet,
He absolutely never gets
The sofa wet.
We have a butcher for a vet,
The strangest vet you ever met.
Guess we're the weirdest family yet,
To have a hot dog for a pet.

Of course, she loves almost all of the poems. And I'd forgotten that the wonderful illustrations were also by Silverstein. One word of caution for parents reading to younger kids: some of the poems do deal (albeit in a silly way) with issues such as drowning (in your own tears), getting kidnapped (by a Wild Barbazzoop), and Ticklish Tom (who unfortunately giggles his way onto a railroad track). Small matters, surely, but good to know when you're reading something to your child that's slightly over their head in terms of age-appropriateness. It's nice to be prepared for the moment just after you've finished reading, and your little one turns to you and says, "Mommy, what's kidnapping?"