A Light In My Attic
I was not the best student in my school career. I was just not interested and could not retain things I didn’t care about. Math was one very subject. I hated math and had to work harder on it because I could not retain it. In first grade, Ms. Holten was my math teacher. I liked HER but hated the subject.
I don’t remember the circumstances around it, but one day she brought in a book to read to us. Not just any book, a book of poems, Childrens poems. The book was “A Light In The Attic” By Shel Silverstein. It was like a someone turned on MY light in the attic.
Of, course I vaguely remember such classics as “The Pirate”, “Homework Machine” and “Mr. Smeds and Mr. Spats”. That was not the cream of the crop. There was one poem that Ms. Holten read that I will never forget.
“Ticklish Tom”
by Shel Silverstein
Did you hear 'bout Ticklish Tom?
He got tickled by his mom.
Wiggled and giggled and fell on the floor,
Laughed and rolled right out the door.
All the way to school and then
He got tickled by his friends.
Laughed till he fell off his stool,
Laughed and rolled right out of school
Down the stairs and finally stopped
Till he got tickled by a cop.
And all the more that he kept gigglin',
All the more folks kept ticklin'.
He shrieked and screamed and rolled around,
Laughed his way right out of town.
Through the country down the road,
He got tickled by a toad.
Past the mountains across the plain,
Tickled by the falling rain,
Tickled by the soft brown grass,
Tickled by the clouds that passed.
Giggling, rolling on his back
He rolled on the railroad track.
Rumble, rumble, whistle, roar—
Tom ain't ticklish any more.”
I have included it here for 2 reasons:
1] It’s my favorite poem of all time
2] To show WHY it’s my favorite poem of all time. It’s absurd and that’s what makes it funny.
I believe that “Ticklish Tom”. Is the very reason for you reading this article! It inspired me to write. I know this article is not in Shel Silversein style (wouldn’t that be GREAT?!). Later in life, I began to write lyrics that I hoped I could put music to. That never happened. Eventually that led me to not just write poems, but then short articles of things I was thinking. It all led to this moment, but it all started with that simple poem.
I recently read that in 2020, they banned “A Light In The Attic”. I had to know why. Why would a book that changed my life be banned from changing the lives of millions of kids across the country. The article I read claimed that it “promoted, and even encouraged, disobedience, violence, suicide, Satan and cannibalism.”
Are you KIDDING ME?! The people that are against books like this, were never exposed to this piece of culture as a kid. Even if they were, it was shown to them in the wrong way. Therefore, as an adult, they see the illustrations, they hear what their children is telling them that they are learning in school, but they are not understanding the material in the manor in which it was intended. These are not promoting kids to do bad things. It was written to be so absurd, that it is funny. It was also written in a time when these absurd acts were not as common as they are today. I read this book to both my children growing up but I presented the material in a silly way. It’s all about HOW you teach not WHAT you teach.
Another book that was on the same ban list was “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. This is literally a book about BANNING BOOKS! Talk about life imitating art! I read this in high school and saw the movie. I didn’t get it at the time but as I got older, I understand it. The most impressive thing to me in that book is the people in their house watching the walls as a television. Now, we have flat screen TV’s and some of them are actually imbedded in the wall! Between that and banning of books, I think this Bradbury guy was really a time traveler.
In a time when the media comes into our home 24 hours a day and tells us stories of REAL-LIFE hatred and horror, I don’t think that the FICTIONAL stories are what you need to worry about. Stop giving these people the power to take the absurd and make it law!
Now that I said my piece, I think it’s time I sat down with a good book for a while. Perhaps the book that started it all, “A Light In The Attic”.
Until next time,
Thanks for reading!
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©2022 Grazie Santangelo. All Rights Reserved
