Lexi's Favorite Book
Hey everyone- my name is Lexi Crawford and today I am going to be talking about my favorite childhood book.
When I was younger I absolutely loved reading. Every second of my free time that I was not playing outside or hanging out with my friends I had a book in my hand. I have this vivid memory in my head of sitting in my bed with a book in my lap when I hear my mom yelling from the kitchen downstairs, “Lexi! Put the book down and come eat.”
This memory stuck out to me because I now find that I hardly read at all, except for the mandatory readings my classes require. It is interesting to see how much life changes as you grow older, but growing up reading as much as I did, it was difficult for me to find a single book that I could choose as my favorite. After a lot of thinking, I discovered that the book Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was the book that stuck out to me the most.
I think that the reason this book stuck out as much as it did was not because it created deep and meaningful thoughts in my head, it was because it gave a great visual in my head, and as many times as I read it, I would never get tired of it.
Where the Sidewalk Ends is a poetry book written for children. Many of the poems, such as “The Acrobat,” and “My Beard,” are simply small poems meant to make the reader laugh. The author is witty and creative and provides images with each of his poems to give a visual as you read.
When I was younger I absolutely loved reading. Every second of my free time that I was not playing outside or hanging out with my friends I had a book in my hand. I have this vivid memory in my head of sitting in my bed with a book in my lap when I hear my mom yelling from the kitchen downstairs, “Lexi! Put the book down and come eat.”
This memory stuck out to me because I now find that I hardly read at all, except for the mandatory readings my classes require. It is interesting to see how much life changes as you grow older, but growing up reading as much as I did, it was difficult for me to find a single book that I could choose as my favorite. After a lot of thinking, I discovered that the book Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein was the book that stuck out to me the most.
I think that the reason this book stuck out as much as it did was not because it created deep and meaningful thoughts in my head, it was because it gave a great visual in my head, and as many times as I read it, I would never get tired of it.
Where the Sidewalk Ends is a poetry book written for children. Many of the poems, such as “The Acrobat,” and “My Beard,” are simply small poems meant to make the reader laugh. The author is witty and creative and provides images with each of his poems to give a visual as you read.
As I get older and reread some of the poems I have noticed something that I hadn’t before, because I was not old enough to put two and two together. Many of the poems, although they are lighthearted and funny, have a deeper, more significant meaning behind them. The poem “Masks” discusses two of the characters having masks on, and for their entire lives they searched for people that were like them, but because of the masks they had on they never knew that the person they were looking for was right in front of them the whole time.
This poem, like many throughout the book, reaches a deeper meaning by talking about these “masks” that people often put on to hide their true selves, and a lot of times feel like nobody is like them. Because of these masks people struggle to find people that they connect with because they are hiding themselves behind a fake persona.
This hits a deeper meaning when you are older and think more in depth about what the author was suggesting.
Overall, although it is not a traditional book, it is a book that throughout my childhood I read over and over without getting tired of the comedy, and also the realness it provided. I still have a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends sitting on my shelf in my dorm room today.
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