Literature / Where the Sidewalk Ends

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

— "Invitation"

Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1974 poetry collection written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. It contains 127 poems. The special edition, published 2004, contains an additional 12 poems.

Poems

Regular Edition

• The Acrobats
• Afraid of the Dark
• Alice
• The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No
• Band-Aids
• Bang-Klang
• The Battle
• Benjamin Bunnn
• The Bloath
• Boa Constrictor
• Captain Hook
• Chester
• Colors
• The Crocodile's Toothache
• Dancing Pants
• The Dirtiest Man in the World
• Double-Tail Dog
• Drats
• Dreadful
• Early Bird
• The Edge of the World
• Eighteen Flavors
• Enter This Deserted House
• The Farmer and the Queen
• Fish?
• Flag
• The Flying Festoon
• For Sale
• Forgotten Language
• The Fourth
• Fred?
• The Garden
• The Generals
• The Googies Are Coming
• Hat
• Hector the Collector
• Helping
• Homemade Boat
• Hug o' War
• Hungry Mungry
• I Must Remember
• I Won't Hatch!
• Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too
• If I Had a Brontosaurus
• If the World Was Crazy
• I'm Making a List
• Instructions
• Invention
• Invisible Boy
• Invitation
• It's Dark in Here
• Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
• Joey
• Jumping Rope
• Just Me, Just Me
• The Land of Happy
• Lazy Jane
• Lester
• Listen to the Mustn'ts
• The Little Blue Engine
• The Longest Nose
• The Long-Haired Boy
• The Loser
• Love
• Ma and God
• Magic
• Magical Eraser
• Me and My Giant
• Melinda Mae
• Merry...
• Me-Stew
• Minnow Minnie
• My Beard
• My Hobby
• My Rules
• No Difference
• Oh Have You Heard
• One Inch Tall
• The One Who Stayed
• Ourchestra
• Pancake?
• Paul Bunyan
• Peanut-Butter Sandwich
• Pirate Captain Jim
• The Planet of Mars
• A Poem on the Neck of a Running Giraffe
• Point of View
• Poor Angus
• Rain
• The Razor-Tailed Wren
• Recipe for a Hippopotamus Sandwich
• Ridiculous Rose
• Rudy Felsh
• Santa and the Reindeer
• Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out
• The Search
• Shadow Wash
• Sick
• The Silver Fish
• Skinny
• Sky Seasoning
• Sleeping Sardines
• Smart
• Snowman
• Spaghetti
• Standing
• Stone Telling
• Thumbs
• Tight Hat
• The Toucan
• Traffic Light
• Tree House
• True Story
• Two Boxes
• The Unicorn
• Upstairs
• Us
• Warning
• What a Day
• What's in the Sack?
• Where the Sidewalk Ends
• Who
• Wild Boar
• With His Mouth Full of Food
• Won't You?
• The Worst
• The Yipiyuk

Special Edition Extras

• Don't Tell Me
• Gorilla
• Monsters
• Mr. Grumpledump's Song
• Naked Hippo
• Oops!
• Open-Close
• Ten-O-Cycle
• The Truth About Turtles
• The Unfunny Jester
• Weightliftress
• Who's Taller?

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Contains examples of:

• All Love Is Unrequited: In "Won't You?", the narrator expresses his interest in several girls, but each one is already involved with someone else or uninterested in him. The poem captures the theme of longing for someone who does not reciprocate the same feelings.
• Alliterative Title: Jimmy Jet and His TV Set
• Ambiguous Ending:
  • The poem "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too", ends with the mystery of what happened to Ickle Me, Pickle Me, and Tickle Me after they flew away in their flying shoe, leaving the fate of the characters open to interpretation.
  • The poem "Snowman" leaves the question of whether the snowman ever sees July unanswered, leaving it open to interpretation.
• Ambiguously Brown: In "Colors", the narrator describes their skin as kind of sort of brownish, pinkish, yellowish, and white. This portrayal plays with the ambiguity of their racial or ethnic identity, blurring the lines between various skin tones.
• Animal Sweet on Object: Played for Drama in "The Bagpipe Who Didn't Say No". The poem tells how a tired turtle found a bagpipe on the beach and fell in love with it. Of course, the bagpipe can't speak, so the "relationship" progresses through a long string of requests from the turtle until he tries cuddling the bagpipe and it says "aaooga". Taking this as a sign he's offended his "love", the turtle begs "her" to tell him that it's not over and "she" doesn't want him to leave, but of course the bagpipe can't speak.
  So the turtle crept off crying and he ne'er came back no more
  And he left the bagpipe lying on that smooth and sandy shore.
• Animal Talk: The poem "The Farmer and the Queen" gives the animals the ability to communicate with the farmer and provide answers to his questions.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: In "For Sale", a boy gets so fed up with his annoying younger sister that he tries to auction her off, but nobody will buy her.
  One sister for sale! One sister for sale! One crying and spying young sister for sale!
• Apocalypse How: In "Hungry Mungry", when Mungry starts out by eating his parents, and then proceeds to go all the way up to Class X-4 by eating up his hometown, then the world, the entire universe, and finally himself!
• Apocalyptic Log:
  • In "Boa Constrictor", the narrator describes how they are being Swallowed Whole by a boa constrictor, right up until the snake swallows their head.
  • Also "True Story" where the last line says they died.
• April Fools' Plot: In "Oh Have You Heard", the narrator engages in spreading false rumors and playing pranks on the reader. The poem captures the spirit of April Fools' Day, where people engage in practical jokes and spread false information for amusement.
• Autocannibalism:
  • "Hungry Mungry" ends with Hungry Mungry eating his body, after having already eaten all of the world and the universe.
  • "Me-Stew" is all about a chef who doesn't have any ingredients to put in his stew, so he puts himself in.
• Banned in China: Was banned in many schools and libraries in the United States beginning in the mid-1980s.
• Barefoot Sage: The poem "My Beard" features a man with an extraordinarily long beard and does not wear shoes (or any clothes, for that matter), implying that he is in touch with nature and simplicity.
• Bath Suicide: The poem "Skinny" humorously presents the scenario of Skinny McGuinn being washed down the drain while taking a bath, suggesting an accidental "bath suicide" due to his extreme thinness.
• Berserk Button: In "What's in the Sack?", the narrator is repeatedly asked by other people about the contents in his sack, and becomes increasingly annoyed by the constant questioning.
• Big Eater:
  • "Melinda Mae" is about a girl who eats an entire whale. However, she takes eighty-nine years to do it.
  • "I Must Remember" is about a man who forgets that he should reserve certain foods for certain occasions, and ends up eating them all at once.
  • This trope is exaggerated in "Hungry Mungry", where a child eats everything to satisfy his appetite, including his entire city, the whole world, the entire universe, and finally, himself.
• Becoming the Genie: The poem "Jimmy Jet" entails a boy watching so much TV that he turns into a TV set.
• Beware the Nice Ones: "The Yipiyuk" is about a small creature called a yipiyuk, who bites on a man's toe without any apparent reason and refuses to let go, despite the man's attempts to free himself. This showcases that even seemingly harmless creatures can have unexpected aggression.
• Bittersweet Ending: The poem "Eighteen Flavors" ends like this. After the narrator lists the flavors in his tall ice cream cone, he becomes saddened after dropping it all on the ground.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: "Double-Tail Dog" describes a dog with two tails, one of them being where its head should be.
• Black Comedy:
  • "Point of View" combines humor with a darker theme, highlighting the irony and absurdity of holiday dinners from the animals' perspective. The contrast between the traditional celebrations and the somber viewpoint adds a comedic element to the poem.
  • "Me-Stew" presents the chef's unconventional solution to the lack of ingredients. The macabre and absurd nature of the poem, where the chef willingly becomes the stew, creates a sense of dark, twisted humor.
• Bowdlerise: The poem "The Googies Are Coming" was originally titled "The Gypsies Are Coming", before being changed to the current title due to the older title coming off as rather bigoted (due to the poem being about the titular googies/gypsies coming to kidnap children and sell them).
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • The final line of the poem "Afraid of the Dark" directly addresses the reader, imploring them not to close the book.
  • In "Oh Have You Heard", the narrator directly addresses the reader, engaging them in the April Fools' Day prank.
• Broken Pedestal: The poem "The Little Blue Engine", which is a humorous take on the classic story The Little Engine That Could, subverts the expectation that the little blue engine will succeed, as he ultimately crashes and fails. The poem implies that believing in oneself is not always enough to overcome challenges, highlighting the importance of practical preparation and action.
• The Bully: "Rudy Felsh" portrays Rudy as a nasty and vulgar kid. The description of his exceptional belching skills and the negative opinions of others suggest that Rudy exhibits bullying behavior.
• Butterfly of Doom: In the poem "Joey", Joey's action of knocking down the sun by throwing a stone at it sets off a chain of events that disrupts the natural order, causing darkness, stalled growth, and a perpetual night.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: In "Boa Constrictor", the narrator is talking about the titular snake as it eats them, under-reacting to the danger until it is too late.
• Characterization Marches On: The poem "Captain Hook" presents an alternative view of the menacing pirate from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, contrasting him with a more relatable and endearing portrayal by highlighting his struggles with common social etiquette and everyday activities.
• Child Prodigy: The poem "What a Day" describes the narrator as an eight-year-old who plays the tuba, but his tuba cannot play because, as the illustration shows, his baby brother has somehow gotten inside it.
• Comically Missing the Point: In "Peanut Butter Sandwich", the king's mouth is glued shut after eating an extra-sticky peanut butter sandwich. After twenty years of constant toil, he finally opens his mouth again... and his first words are "How about a peanut butter sandwich?"
• The Comically Serious: In "Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too", Tickle Me serving coffee and mulligan stew while Ickle Me and Pickle Me are having fun and flying higher adds a comically serious element to the poem.
• Covers Always Lie: The cover has a drawing of two children and a dog peering over the edge of the earth. This is from a poem in the book called "The Edge of the World", not "Where the Sidewalk Ends". The title poem is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and it has no illustration in the book.
• Death by Irony: In the poem "Lester", the title character gets Three Wishes. He turns out to have some levels of smartassery, as he starts spending his wishes on more wishes. He keeps doing this his entire life, but never actually uses his wishes for anything else, so by the time he dies he has millions.
• Depraved Dentist: One receives his comeuppance in "The Crocodile's Toothache" when he sadistically pulls a crocodile's teeth.
• Determinator: In "Melinda Mae", Melinda persists in her goal of eating an entire whale despite being told she is too small. She demonstrates determination and perseverance by taking small bites and chewing slowly over the course of eighty-nine years.
• Don't Try This at Home: The poem "The Acrobats" showcases the specialized and skilled nature of acrobatics, suggesting that it should be left to trained professionals and not attempted by amateurs.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Where the Sidewalk Ends is not only Silverstein's first collection of poems, it's also the only one where the title poem is not the first one.
• Eats Babies: "Dreadful" is about how "someone ate the baby." It was the narrator.
• Epic Fail: The poem "Spaghetti" describes a situation where a party goes awry due to the guests misunderstanding the instructions and throwing spaghetti instead of confetti.
• Exact Words: In "Ridiculous Rose", Rose's mother tells her not to eat with her fingers. Rose says "Okay" and eats with her toes instead.
• The Fair Folk: The poem "Magic" references encounters with magical beings such as leprechauns, elves, and mermaids.
• Fantastic Flora: "The Garden" describes a garden where jewels grow instead of ordinary plants. The vivid imagery of fruits and vegetables made of sapphires, rubies, jade, amethyst, pearls, and more adds a fantastical element to the poem.
• Flat World: The poem "The Edge of the World" is about the narrator visiting the edge of the world, confirming that the world is flat. A modified version of the illustration for this poem is also on the cover of the collection itself.
• Forgetful Jones:
  • The man in "I Must Remember" forgets to pace himself with certain foods meant to be eaten on certain occasions and ends up eating them all at once, showcasing his absent-mindedness.
  • The speaker in the poem "Flag" forgets the names of the stars on the American flag, only remembering the ones for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Minnesota.
• The Generation Gap: The poem "Ma and God" explores the contrasting perspectives of a mother and her child, highlighting the differences in their beliefs and values.
• Genre Mashup: "True Story" combines elements from different genres, including Western (outlaws and horses), pirate tales, fantasy (mermaids and eagles), and adventure stories. The poem blends these genres to create a whimsical and unpredictable narrative.
• Gentle Giant: The giant in "Me and My Giant" is friends with a little girl, who communicates with him by scratching his toe, and he responds by tapping it.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: "The Acrobats" plays with the concept of defying gravity through acrobatic maneuvers, emphasizing the physical challenge and risk involved in such acts.
• Green Gators: In "The Unicorn", the refrain is a list of different kinds of animals, including "green alligators".
• Grows on Trees: The poem "The Garden" is about a man who grows plants that have fruits and vegetables made of gems, gold, and silver.
• Growing Up Sucks: "I Won't Hatch!" is from the point of view of a baby chick who refuses to leave the safety of their egg despite the cackling of the hens and the begging of the roosters, because they've heard about all the horrible things in the world like war, pollution, shouting people, and roaring airplanes.
• The Hat Makes the Man: In "Upstairs", a family of wrens mistake the narrator's hat for a nest and make it their home. The hat serves as a defining characteristic or identifier for the narrator, and the presence of the wrens adds an unexpected dimension to the narrator's identity.
• Hair Wings: The poem "The Long-Haired Boy" is about a boy with ridiculously long hair who was mercilessly teased about it until his weeping caused it to flap like wings, carrying him into the air.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: The poem "The Land of Happy" presents the titular Land of Happy as a place where everyone is expected to be happy all the time, implying a societal pressure to conform to a specific emotional state.
• Hellish Horse: The poem "Paul Bunyan" suggests that Paul intends to explore if there are trees in hell, riding away on his ox.
• The Hero: The poem "The Long-Haired Boy" explores the townspeople's reaction to the long-haired boy's newfound ability to fly. They cheer, chase after him, and consider him a hero, showcasing the trope of characters who are admired and celebrated for their extraordinary actions or abilities.
• Home Sweet Home: In "Upstairs", a family of wrens has made the narrator's hat their home, despite the narrator's desire to get away from them.
• Human Aliens: Downplayed. The poem "The Planet of Mars" describes the aliens on Mars as very human-like, except for the fact that they have heads on their bottoms.
• Hurricane of Excuses: "Sick" is about a girl giving a long list of diseases and inflictions she supposedly has to get out of going to school. At the end of the poem, when she finds out it's Saturday, she's suddenly not sick anymore.
• I Am Big Boned: In "Who", the narrator exaggerates their physical prowess and invincibility. They claim to possess extraordinary strength, courage, and abilities that set them apart from others.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The titular character of "Hungry Mungry" eats everything he can find to satisfy his appetite - including anyone who tries to stop him, such as his parents, police officers, and the army. In the end, after he's eaten all of planet Earth and the entire universe, he eats himself.
• Imaginary Friend: The poem "Me and My Giant" describes a girl's relationship with a giant, who may be seen as an imaginary friend due to the fantastical nature of their interactions.
• Innocently Insensitive: In "Minnow Minnie", the narrator asks their friend about their missing pet minnow, unaware of the potential distress caused by their innocent question. The friend's act of drinking Ovaltine without realizing the minnow was in it adds a touch of innocence and unintentional insensitivity to the situation.
• Ironic Echo: In "The Crocodile's Toothache" a Depraved Dentist pulls the wrong tooth from a crocodile and exclaims "But what's one crocodile's tooth, more or less?" At that the dentist is ...gone. The narrator is puzzled by the dentist's sudden disappearance and simply concludes, "But what's one dentist, more or less?"
• Karmic Transformation: In "Jimmy Jet and His TV Set" a young boy is so obsessed with television that he watches it all day every day. Because he watches so much TV, he literally turns into one. He slowly begins to transform and by the end of the poem, he's become a television set that other people watch.

  So we plugged in little Jim.
  And now instead of him watching TV
  We all sit around and watch him.

• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: In the poem, "Smart", a father gives his "smartest" son a dollar bill, and the boy trades it with someone for two quarters (because two is more than one), then he trades those for three dimes, then four nickels, and finally, five pennies. He then shows his dad, who turns red, closes his eyes and shakes his head, and the boy concludes that his dad is so proud he's speechless.
• Language of Love: The poem "Me and My Giant" introduces the "scratch-tap code," a unique communication method between the girl and the giant.
• Literal-Minded: In "With His Mouth Full of Food", Milford Dupree's parents use exaggerated comparisons involving animals and consequences to highlight the rudeness of talking with one's mouth full of food. Their statements are taken literally, leading to humorous and exaggerated responses.
• Loony Laws: In "Peanut Butter Sandwich", all of the king's subjects are very stupid because he passed a law that the only thing they're allowed to learn in school is how to make a peanut butter sandwich.
• Losing Your Head: In "The Loser", a boy loses his head because it wasn't on tight enough. Having no means to find it, the boy decides to sit on a rock and rest, not knowing that the "rock" really is his head!
• Love Triangle: "Just Me, Just Me" portrays Marie's affection towards multiple individuals, including the narrator, Maurice McGhee, Louise Dupree, and even a willow tree. The presence of multiple love interests creates a sense of competition and conflicting emotions within the poem.
• Modesty Shorts: The girl on the cover illustration reveals hers as she bends over to view the edge of the world.
• Multiple Head Case:
  • The narrator of "Us" has a second face on the back of his head, and the two of them can never agree on anything, which symbolizes the internal conflict between the narrator's old self and who he is now.
  • In "Chester", the title character grows a second head.
    Chester come to school and said,
    "Durn, I growed another head."
    Teacher said, "It's time you knowed
    The word is 'grew' instead of 'growed'."
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  • The poem "Magic" emphasizes that the narrator's experiences of magic are self-created, contrasting with the fantastical encounters of others.
  • The poem "Warning" elevates the act of sticking a finger up one's nose into an amusing and exaggerated situation involving a sharp-toothed snail.
  • The poem "Ourchestra" elevates body parts into musical instruments, showcasing the trope of transforming ordinary things into extraordinary tools.
  • The poem "If The World Was Crazy" humorously presents absurd and unconventional food combinations, such as a lemonade sandwich and roasted ice cream, as well as unconventional clothing choices like a chocolate suit and licorice shoes.
• New Media Are Evil: "Jimmy Jet and His TV Set" is about a boy so obsessed with his television set that he turns into one.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Sarah's demise at the end of "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" is not elaborated on, letting the reader's imagination run wild.
  And there, in the garbage she did hate,
  Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
  That I cannot right now relate
  Because the hour is much too late.
• The Nth Doctor: In "Upstairs", the narrator describes moving a dozen times, but the family of wrens continues to live inside his hat.
• Perspective Flip:
  • "One Inch Tall" imagines the world from the perspective of someone who is only one inch tall. The poem explores the different experiences and challenges that would arise from being so tiny.
  • "The One Who Stayed" is a take on The Pied Piper of Hamelin from the perspective of one of the children of Hamelin. They recall all the other children following the piper over the hills, never to return. The narrator is the only one who did not follow the piper — they heard his music, but were too afraid to follow.
  • "Point of View" presents a shift in perspective from the human viewpoint of enjoying holiday dinners to imagining the viewpoint of the animals being consumed. The change in perspective challenges the reader's assumptions and encourages them to see things from a different angle.
• The Pig-Pen: "The Dirtiest Man In The World" is about Dirty Dan, who has never taken a shower and is covered in dirt from head to toe. He explains that he embraces his grime and filth, and while he could clean himself, he finds excuses not to.
  Oh I'm Dirty Dan, the world's dirtiest man
  I never have taken a shower.
  I can't see my shirt—it's so covered with dirt,
  And my ears have enough to grow flowers.
• Playing Sick: "Sick" is about a girl pretending to be sick to avoid having to go to school that day.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: In the poem "Afraid of the Dark", Reginald Clark begs the reader not to close the book on him, expressing a fear of being left alone or abandoned.
• The Pollyanna: The poem "The Land of Happy" contrasts with the typical depiction of a Pollyanna, as the narrator finds The Land of Happy to be boring and uninteresting since everyone is expected to be happy all the time.
• Posthumous Narration: The poem "True Story", played for laughs.
• The Power of Love: The poem "Hug O'War" emphasizes the positive and unifying nature of love, showcasing the trope of love as a force that brings people together and promotes harmony.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent:
  • "Boa Constrictor" is about the narrator being eaten by a boa constrictor.
  • Subverted in "The Crocodile's Toothache". True, the crocodile ate the dentist, but that was only after the dentist had caused the crocodile a lot of pain.
• Revenge by Proxy: In "Magical Eraser", the boy, unable to prove the magical eraser's power, decides to use it on the girl who doubted him. By erasing her, he gets back at her for calling him a liar and doubting his claims.
• Roguish Romani: "The Gypsies Are Coming" is all about how the titular people are coming to "buy little children and take them away". Later editions censor it to replace "gypsies" with the nonsense word "googies". The poem's illustration, which depicts a stereotypical "gypsy" carrying off children in a sack, was kept, however.
• Sibling Rivalry: "For Sale" portrays the narrator's frustration with his younger sister and his attempt to sell her to someone who might want her.
• Silly Reason for War:
  • In "The Generals", two enemy officers, General Clay and General Gore, confess that they find the war between them to be silly and boring, and try and think of something else to do instead. General Gore suggests going to the beach, but they both realize they're afraid of drowning. Deciding that they have nothing better to do, they restart the war and are both killed in the next assault.
  Said General Clay to General Gore,
  "My bathing suit is slightly tore.
  We'd better go on with our war."
  "I quite agree," said General Gore.
  • "With His Mouth Full of Food" hints at this trope as Milford's habit of talking with his mouth full while eating causes frustration and annoyance among his family members. The situation escalates to the point where they call in a "gluer" to have his mouth glued shut. This exaggerated response to a seemingly trivial issue adds an element of absurdity and hyperbole.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: The poem "Pirate Captain Jim" depicts Captain Jim as a mentor figure, pushing a young boy to face challenges and learn new skills.
• Sizeshifter: The poem "Alice" talks about Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland changing sizes when she drank from the "DRINK ME" bottle and ate from the "TASTE ME" plate.
• Split Personality: "Us" portrays the internal battle between the narrator's old self and the person he is now. The two personas, "Me" and "Him," represent different aspects of the narrator's personality, with conflicting opinions and preferences.
• The Stoic: In the poem "The Snowman", the titular snowman, who expresses a desire to see July despite the inevitability of his melting, maintains a brave and stoic demeanor, facing his impending demise with a smile.
• Swallowed Whole: In "It's Dark in Here", the narrator describes being inside a lion after getting too close to its cage. This situation involves the literal act of being swallowed by a predator, creating a sense of danger, darkness, and confinement.
• Technicolor Eyes: In "Colors", the narrator describes their eyes as grayish-blueish-green but mentions that they look orange in the night. This portrayal highlights the uniqueness and variability of their eye color, adding a sense of intrigue and wonder.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • In "The Unicorn", the unicorns are so busy playing games that they don't get on Noah's ark when the earth is flooding. They all drown, and that's why unicorns are extinct today.
  • In "The Crocodile's Toothache" a dentist climbs into a crocodiles mouth and proceeds to gleefully and unnecessarily pull some of its teeth.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Peanut butter sandwiches for the king in "Peanut Butter Sandwich", practically to the point of addiction. It's all he eats, and he passes a decree that all anyone can learn in school is how to make peanut butter sandwiches.
• Trash of the Titans: "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out" is about the title character letting the household garbage pile up until it overflows the house and reaches across the state.
• Troll: Terrible Theresa in "Pancakes" wants a pancake from the middle of the skyscraper-tall stack.
• Treehouse of Fun: "Tree House" talks about how wonderful a treehouse is, contrasting it against a street house where people have to be neat.
  A tree house, a free house,
  A secret you and me house,
  A high up in the leafy branches
  Cozy as can be house.
  A street house, a neat house,
  Be sure and wipe your feet house
  Is not my kind of house at all—
  Let's go live in a tree house.
• Twist Ending: "True Story" concludes with an unexpected and ironic twist—the narrator's death.
• The Unfettered: "The Dirtiest Man in the World" portrays Dirty Dan's disregard for societal norms and expectations regarding personal hygiene. He chooses to live in dirt and filth, defying conventional cleanliness standards.
• Unreliable Narrator: In "Oh Have You Heard", the narrator presents false information with a playful tone. The reader is led to believe the narrator's statements until the reveal that it's an April Fools' Day prank.
• The Unreveal: The poem "Benjamin Bunnn" doesn't explain why Benjamin is unable to change his clothes or provide a resolution to the situation, leaving it open-ended.
• "What's Inside?" Plot: "What's in the Sack?" is about how everyone the narrator meets asks him what's in the giant sack he carries.
• Why We Need Garbagemen: "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" is a humorous poem about a girl who absolutely refuses to take the garbage out, no matter how much her father nags her. It piles up so high that it fills the entire house and reaches up to the sky, and only then does she decide to take it out, but by then it's much too late.
• Wishing for More Wishes: In "Lester", the eponymous character encounters a goblin that grants him one wish. The boy wishes for two wishes, which he gets, surprisingly enough. So with each wish, he wishes for two more wishes, giving him four wishes. And with each of those wishes, he wishes for two more, giving him eight. This goes on for some time, until the boy dies, presumably from old age. All that's left of him is a humongous pile of unused wishes. The narrator of the story then invites the reader to take a few, and warns the reader not to "waste your wishes on wishing."
• Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: "If I Had a Brontosaurus" is about a hypothetical pet brontosaurus being discovered to be female when it has babies.
  If I had a brontosaurus,
  I would name him Horace or Morris.
  But if suddenly one day he had
  A lot of little brontosauri—
  I would change his name
  To Laurie.

---

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

— "Where the Sidewalk Ends"