Falling Up (poetry collection) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Falling Up

Author	Shel Silverstein
Illustrator	Shel Silverstein
Cover artist	Lary Moyer
Country	United States
Publication date	1996
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	177
ISBN	0-06-024802-5
OCLC	34736959

Falling Up is a super fun poetry collection written and drawn by the famous Shel Silverstein. It came out in 1996 and was published by HarperCollins. This book was his third collection of poems, following Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) and A Light in the Attic (1981). It was also the last poetry book he published before he passed away. Falling Up even won an award called the Booklist Editors' Award in 1996!

Exploring the Poems in "Falling Up"

This book is packed with many silly and thoughtful poems. Here are some of them:

Funny and Silly Poems

• Advice - William Tell tries to shoot an apple off someone's head. Oops! He misses and hits their forehead instead.
• Allison Beals and Her 25 Eels - Meet a girl with twenty-five pet eels! These eels can do all sorts of amazing things. One even gets a new job later in the book!
• Alphabalance - A boy tries to carry the whole alphabet in his arms. Imagine how tricky that would be!
• Bad Cold - A man has a really bad cold. He keeps asking the reader to bring him things to sneeze into.
• Best Mask? - A child wins first prize at a scary mask contest. The funny part? They aren't wearing a mask at all!
• Big Eating Contest - A man talks about joining an eating competition. He spent a lot of money to enter, but only won $5. What a bummer!
• Bituminous? - The person telling the story names some really long words. They have trouble remembering what any of them mean.
• Body Language - The narrator's body parts all have different ideas. His behind suggests sitting down until they all agree.
• Carrots - A boy hears carrots help your eyesight. He sticks them in his eyes and wonders why it's not working.
• Castle - This poem describes a castle that is super thin. You can walk through it in no time at all!
• Cat Jacks - The narrator explains why playing jacks with a jaguar is not a good idea.
• Cereal - The poem describes many different kinds of breakfast cereal.
• Clean Gene - This poem is about a boy who loves to be clean. He always protects himself from germs.
• Complainin' Jack - A girl's jack-in-the-box pops out and starts complaining. She eventually gets tired and shuts him back in.
• Cookwitch Sandwich - A boy asks Katrina the Cook (who is secretly a witch) to make him a sandwich. She takes his words literally and turns him into one!
• Crazy Dream - A boy dreams he is the teacher. All the grown-up teachers are his students! He gives them wild homework and punishments.
• Crystal Ball - A fortune teller looks into her crystal ball. She tells a customer what they ate for lunch. Then she admits she was just looking at the customer's dress!
• Dentist Dan - A boy talks about his dentist. This dentist cleans teeth with maple syrup and fills cavities with chocolate. The boy doesn't realize he's losing his teeth because of this!
• Diving Board - A boy stands on a diving board at a pool. But he never actually dives in.
• Eggs Rated - A man enjoys scrambled eggs and makes many egg jokes. Then he sees the bill and tries to run away!
• Falling Up - A boy trips on his shoelaces. Instead of falling down, he falls upward!
• Feeding Time - A boy asks an alligator where his keeper, Mr. Fred, is. The illustration shows the alligator has already eaten Mr. Fred!
• The Folks Inside - The narrator says old people sleep inside young people's bodies. They come out when the person grows up.
• Foot Repair - A boy wears out his feet from walking. He visits a cobbler for "new soles and heels." But the price is too high!
• Forgetful Paul Revere - Paul Revere tries hard to remember his famous commands. He's about to start his midnight ride!
• The Former Foreman's Story - A demolition crew boss tells a story. They were supposed to tear down an empty house. But they destroyed the wrong one by mistake!
• Furniture Bash - Different pieces of furniture have a big fight. They end up destroying each other.
• Gardener - A boy is told to water plants. He gets scolded for not doing it the right way.
• Glub-Glub - A boy jumps into a puddle. It turns out to be a very small, but very deep, lake!
• The Gnome, the Gnat, and the Gnu - A story about a gnome trying to swat a gnat. The gnat is biting his gnu's nose.
• Golden Goose - The narrator cooks a golden goose for dinner. He thinks cooking her golden eggs is too much work.
• Hand Holding - Someone suggests holding hands in a group. But one little boy has no hand to hold.
• Hard to Please - The narrator describes several people who really annoy him.
• Headless Town - A man tries to sell hats in a town. The problem is, no one in the town has a head!
• Headphone Harold - Harold always listens to music on his headphones. He doesn't pay attention to the world. This causes trouble when he walks on railway tracks and can't hear a train.
• Help! - A unicorn gets his horn stuck in a tree. When offered help, he asks many silly questions.
• Hi-Monster - The narrator points out a huge monster in the mist. It has a super long tail. But then it turns out the monster is actually quite small!
• Human Balloon - A man swells up huge by drinking lots of cola. He offers rides to people in a basket tied to his stomach.
• Hungry Kid Island - A boy rows to Hungry Kid Island. He thinks it's full of hungry kids who will eat lunch with him. He doesn't know the island itself is a giant hungry child!
• Hypnotized - An amateur hypnotist brainwashes someone. He makes them do all his housework.
• Ice Cream Stop - An ice cream truck stops at a circus. All the animals want different flavors. The vendor won't give them any until he's paid. So the animals attack the truck and eat all the ice cream!
• Imagining - A girl thinks she has a mouse in her hair. The narrator says no, but forgets to mention there's an elephant there instead!
• In the Land of... - The narrator describes several made-up countries.
• James - The narrator introduces a hamburger named James. Then he talks about all the different names hamburgers have.
• Kanga Ruby - This poem describes a kangaroo who becomes a queen.
• Keepin' Count - A biologist keeps flies in a jar. He challenges people to count them. A boy does well, until a female fly has a baby, and he has to start over!
• Keep-Out House - A boy builds a private house with no doors or windows. Then he wonders how he'll get in.
• Little Hoarse - A boy complains about his sore throat, saying he's "a little hoarse." Other kids misunderstand and ride on his back like a horse.
• Little Pig's Treat - A piglet riding on his father's back asks to go into a candy store.
• Long-Leg Lou and Short-Leg Sue - Tall Lou and tiny Sue are good friends. They love to walk and talk. But Lou gets tired of Sue not keeping up and leaves her. Lou ends up lonely, while Sue makes a new friend.
• Long Scarf - A man always wears a super long scarf. When asked to take it off, he says his head was chopped off and the scarf keeps it on!
• Lyin' Larry - The narrator describes a young boy who is never truthful.
• Mari-Lou's Ride - A girl swings so high that the ropes break. She flies across town and lands in her mother's lap!
• Medusa - Medusa tries to fix her hair. But the snakes in her hair all disagree on what she should do.
• Mirror, Mirror - The Evil Queen from Snow White asks her Magic Mirror who is "fairest of them all." The mirror says Snow White. When the Queen threatens to drop him, he quickly changes his answer!
• Mister Moody - A man is frowning. The narrator tells readers to turn the picture upside down. Then he makes fun of them for expecting the man to smile.
• Molly's Folly - A girl goes to Bali and buys a skateboard. She falls on her pet collie, who bites her in anger.
• The Monkey - A monkey eats green bananas on his way to the store and gets sick. This story is told using numbers 1-11.
• Morgan's Curse - A boy finds a treasure chest. It has a warning about a curse. He wonders if he should take the treasure or leave it.
• Mummy - A boy wraps himself in toilet paper to pretend to be a mummy. No one finds it funny.
• Music Lesson - A girl taking piano lessons complains. She has to carry her piano up seven flights of stairs to her teacher.
• My Nose Garden - A man complains about his garden of noses. They always catch colds. He offers some to the readers!
• My Robot - A boy builds a robot. But it disagrees with him every time he tells it to do something.
• My Sneaky Cousin - A girl sneaks into a washing machine. She hopes for a free bath, but doesn't like the results.
• The Nap Taker - A child is on trial for literally taking someone's nap. He is sentenced to sleep forever.
• Needles and Pins - A group of people build a ship. They set off for new adventures.
• New World - A girl looks through her legs. She sees the world upside-down.
• No - A sign lists things people are not allowed to do. A beaver chews on the sign, saying there's no rule against beavers.
• No Grown-Ups - Children create a secret club where no adults are allowed. They change this rule when they go for pizza and need someone to pay.
• No Thank You - A man is offered a kitten. He says no because he already has too many cats.
• Noise Day - The narrator describes a holiday. On this day, children can make all the noise they want!
• Nope - A boy looks at a piece of cantaloupe under a microscope. He decides he will never eat cantaloupe again.
• Obedient - A boy gets in trouble at school. His teacher tells him to stand in the corner. She forgets to tell him to go home. He stands there all summer, and for forty years!
• Ooh! - A child goes to a petting zoo. When he pets a baby tiger, his fingers get bitten off.
• One Out of Sixteen - The narrator talks about all the school subjects he struggles with.
• People Zoo - A boy gets captured and put in a zoo. Animals come to look at him.
• Pinocchio - This is a retelling of the famous story of Pinocchio.
• Plugging In - A family plugs in all their electronic devices. This causes a power outage.
• Poison-Tester - A girl bravely volunteers to be her friend's "poison-tester." She checks their food to make sure it's dangerous.
• Porky - The narrator assigns three people to groom a porcupine. But he doesn't help them at all.
• Quality Time - A father takes his daughter golfing. He uses her as a tee!
• Reachin' Richard - Richard always reaches across the table for food. He never asks politely.
• Red Flowers for You - The narrator offers readers a bouquet of flowers. He jokes that they might be poisonous.
• Remote-a-Dad - The narrator describes a remote control. It can supposedly control your father.
• Rotten Convention - The narrator describes a meeting for various scary and gruesome characters.
• Runners - Track runners say they succeed because of their practice field and coach. The field has traps, and the coach is a lion!
• Sack Race - A child signs up for a sack race. But he wears his sack the wrong way.
• Safe? - A girl wonders if it's safe to cross the street. She doesn't know an actual safe is about to drop on her head.
• Scale - An overweight man complains. His huge stomach keeps him from seeing the scale.
• Screamin' Millie - A girl named Millie screams so loudly that it ruins her face.
• Settin' Around - A boy sits around a campfire with three monsters. But he scares them all away with his frightening stories.
• Shanna in the Sauna - One person tries to invite another into a sauna. It's full of animals!
• Sharing - A child is happy to share other people's things. But he finds it hard to share his own.
• Shoe Talk - A boy talks with his shoe.
• Short Kid - A boy talks about people saying he'd "grow another foot." Instead of getting taller, he actually grows another foot out of his head!
• Show Fish - A boy catches a fish for show-and-tell. He forgets to bring it for two weeks. When he remembers, the fish is rotten.
• Sidewalking - A child laughs at the superstition about breaking your mother's back by stepping on a crack. But then he finds out it's true!
• Smile Makers - A grumpy giant is tired of frowning. He gets two people to hold up his mouth so he can smile.
• Snowball - The narrator tells about making a snowball and keeping it as a pet. But it melted overnight.
• Somethin' New - The narrator describes his many tries at inventing something new.
• Sorry I Spilled It - The narrator apologizes for spilling someone's breakfast in their bed.
• Spoiled Brat - A spoiled girl does many terrible things. She falls into a cooking pot and gets cooked into a stew. But no one wants to try it because she was "so spoiled."
• Stone Airplane - A young pilot builds an airplane out of stone. He quickly realizes he won't be flying anywhere with it.
• Stork Story - This is an extra part of the classic stork story. The stork takes old people and turns them back into babies.
• Strange Restaurant - The narrator visits a restaurant. He tries to order meat dishes. But the staff are all animals, so it's hard to find something okay to eat. He orders a salad, but even that's not right because the owner is a head of cabbage!
• Stupid Pencil Maker - The narrator complains his pencil is built wrong. He says the eraser is where the point should be. He doesn't realize he's holding it wrong.
• Sun Hat - A girl has a sun hat with a super wide brim. It gives shade to her and other creatures too.
• Sybil the Magician's Last Show - Sybil is a young magician. She always forgets to feed her pet rabbit. The rabbit gets revenge by sucking Sybil into her hat and eating her! The audience thinks she disappeared.
• Tattooin' Ruth - A man gets a suit tattooed onto him. He doesn't like wearing clothes.
• Tell Me - The narrator asks readers to tell him he's a good person. But he wants them to be honest about it.
• They Say I Have... - A boy says he has "his father's nose, his grandfather's eyes, and mother's hair." He wonders if his behind is the only thing that's truly his.
• Tongue Sticker-Outer - A young boy in Zanzibar sticks his tongue out. It touches a star in the sky and gets burned.
• The Toy Eater - A child is warned that a monster will eat his toys if he doesn't put them away.
• Three O'clock - A man takes a job as a bell ringer. But he actually becomes the bell's clapper!
• Three Stings - Three men get stung by bees.
• Turkey? - A boy describes eating a drumstick at a picnic dance. Everyone was furious. The illustration shows he ate a real drumstick, not a turkey leg!
• Unfair - A girl complains her apartment won't allow pets. Her giant monster pet is harmless and knows tricks!
• Use for a Moose - A girl says a moose's antlers are great for hanging clothes to dry. But the moose keeps running off with them.
• The Voice - The narrator describes what a conscience is.
• Warmhearted - An animal rights activist waits for Animal Day. She doesn't know the fox fur she's wearing is still alive.
• Wastebasket Brother - The narrator is upset that someone put their baby brother in the wastebasket.
• Weavers - The poet knits a sweater. But a spider brags about how much better it is at weaving.
• Web-Foot Woe - A goose scolds people for confusing him with a duck. They are actually warning him about an arrow being shot at his head!
• Weird-Bird - An unusual bird flies north for winter instead of south. He admits he likes being the only bird in town sometimes.
• We're Out of Paint, So… - A painter runs out of paint. He decides to make a painting using juices from different foods.
• When I Was Your Age - A man brags to his nine-year-old nephew. He says he could do many things better at that age. Then he reveals he was actually ten at the time.
• Why Is It? - The narrator talks about a person whose clothes don't feel right. This is because the person hasn't put them on properly.
• Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda - Some "woulda-coulda-shouldas" lie in the sun. They think about things they might have done. Then they run away from "one little 'did.'"
• Writer Waiting - A boy buys a new computer to write a book. But he has writer's block and can't think of anything.
• Yuck - A boy gets a sticky substance stuck to his shoe. He tries to remove it, but then all his pets and neighbors get stuck too!