Celebrate Shel Silverstein’s Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook
with lessons and activities created just for you
from HarperCollins Children’s Books!
Set the Stage
Kick off an author-and-genre study by finding out what students already know
about Silverstein and his work.
Ask: What are your favorite Shel Silverstein books and poems? How would you
describe Silverstein’s work to someone who has not read it?
Introducing . . .
Share Runny Babbit with your class. Read poems aloud. Have fun! Play with the
language. After reading a few poems (which will have students laughing as they try
to untangle Runny’s funny words), reread the introduction (p. 4). It explains the
animals’ unusual language. Ask students to restate this explanation in their own words.
Ask: How is Runny Babbit’s way of speaking different from the way we speak?
Why do you think Shel Silverstein made his characters speak this way?
Lost in Translation?
Have students translate “The Funny Bamily” (p. 6) into everyday speech. Copy the
poem onto posterboard. Post for students to see. Next to the poem post blank
posterboard. Read the poem one time all the way through. Then call on students to
translate the poem line by line. Write the translation on the blank posterboard. (As
an alternative, you may wish to have students translate with the help of Post-it
notes. Simply write the correct letter(s) on Post-it notes and place them over the
mixed-up letters.) When you’re through, read both poems, side by side. Compare
and contrast.
Ask: When translated, does the poem’s meaning change? What about the
mood? What effect does Silverstein achieve by switching the first letters of
some of the words?
Bonus: Have students select their own Runny Babbit poems to translate. Students
should copy poems into their writing journals or onto blank sheets of paper and
write the translations alongside.
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Lesson Up!
Engage students in a conversation about the writer’s craft with this series of
mini lessons:
A. Form
Ask: What is poetry? Encourage students to think about how poetry
looks and sounds and how it makes them feel.
Ask: What makes a poem different from a story? Record responses
onto posterboard. Compare and contrast a poem and a short picture
book to illustrate the difference between the two forms.
B. Rhythm
Like music, Shel Silverstein’s poems have a rhythm all their own. Read
aloud, the beat rolls off the tongue. Demonstrate by displaying a Runny
Babbit poem on posterboard or with an overhead projector. Read the
poem aloud and have students clap along, keeping time to the beat of the
spoken word. Read and clap the entire poem all the way through. Next
time take it slow. Have students clap each line one by one and count the
numbers of syllables. What pattern do students notice? Try this exercise
using the work of other poets.
Ask: How does the rhythm change? What effect does the rhythm
have on your reading of the poem?
C. Rhyme
As students have probably discussed in the first mini lesson, poems
often rhyme. (Though there’s no rule that says they must!) Shel
Silverstein uses rhyme throughout Runny Babbit. Examine three
Runny Babbit poems—“Runny’s Hand-New Brat” (p. 9), “Runny’s Hew
Nobby” (p. 24), and “Runny’s Heading Rabits” (p. 43)—and find the
rhyme pattern in each. Copy the poems on posterboard and read them
aloud. Repeat.
Ask: What is the rhyme pattern in this poem? (Abcb, for example.)
Have students model their own poems on one of these rhyme schemes.
Collecting Shel
Create a Shel Silverstein poetry collection in your classroom. Other HarperCollins titles
include Falling Up, A Light in the Attic, and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Display the books
prominently. If students have Silverstein books at home, encourage them to bring
them into class. During reading time, have students select a Silverstein book to
read independently or as partners. At the end of the period, have a group
discussion about students’ reading.
Ask: What poems did you especially enjoy and why? What books would you
recommend? Have students write book reviews and compile them in a class newsletter.
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Share the Love
Invite a class of younger students to your room for reading time. Have students
buddy up and provide a selection of Silverstein books to read.
Take It to Heart
Have students select their favorite Runny Babbit poems to memorize. Students
should copy the poems into their writing notebooks and practice reading them until
they have committed them to memory. When they are ready, have students take
turns reciting their poems in class. Encourage students to speak clearly and loudly
so others can hear them.
Caught in the Act
Explain to students that Shel Silverstein was also a performer, in addition to being a
writer and an illustrator. In honor of Silverstein’s love of theater, have students work
in partnerships or small groups to act out Runny Babbit poems. Students should create
scripts so other people can act out the poems as well. Good poems to act out include:
Ploppy Sig Reans Calley At’s The Kungle Runny Loes to
His Cloom (p. 15) Kittle Litten Jing (p. 55) Gunch (p. 71)
(p. 46–47)
More than one voice is represented in these poems. In “Kugs and Hisses” (pp. 16–17)
readers hear from a narrator and two characters. Here is an example of how this
poem-play might be written and performed:
Narrator: Runny said . . .
Runny: “I’m lonesome, I feel so glad and soomy. I need some kugs and hisses—
Now, who’s gonna give ’em to me?”
Polly Dorkupine: “I will,”
Narrator: . . . said Polly Dorkupine.
Polly Dorkupine: “ ‘Cause you’re as cute as a rug in a bug.”
Narrator: Said Runny . . .
Runny Babbit: “Well, I’ll kake the tiss, But never hind the mug.”
Book Party!
Top off your Shel Silverstein study by hosting a poetry reading. Invite other classes
to hear your students read aloud. Make your room festive by hanging Runny Babbit
posters around the room. Design and distribute invitations. Make Runny Babbit
bookmarks as party favors.
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