Prelutsky, Jack. The new kid on the block. Scholastic: New York. 1984.
My Shadow
by Robert Lois Stevenson
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow
Not al all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shaadow, like an arrant sleepy head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Talk about the shadow in the poem and then read the students the following poem. Tell them it was written more recently.
I Spied My Shadow Slinking
by Jack Prelutsky
I spied my shadow slinking
up behind me in the night,
I issued it a challenge,
and we started in to fight.
I wrestled with that shadow,
but it wasn't any fun,
I tried my very hardest--
all the same, my shadow won.
Extension: Talk about the shadow in the last poem and then compare the two poems- old and new. Talk about how "shadows" have remained the same through time. Have the students lay on a big piece of paper and have a partner outline their shape to create "shadows" . Display them in the room and create a corner of "shadows".