Silly Street by Jeff Foxworthy

Silly Street

(Harper Collins-2009)

By: Jeff Foxworthy

Illustrated by: Steve Bjorkman

Grade: 3-4

Silly Street is a fantastic, humorous story that is presented as a poem about a community. It is wonderful to get the kids thinking about all of the places that make up communities, and Silly Street is the perfect book to introduce during ELA or Social Studies. This book is very simple and "silly" so it catches students' interests. Kids will love to read the poems and look at the illustrations. Some may wish they lived on Silly Street.

Theme/Skills Taught: Community/Fluency

About the Author: Jeff Foxworthy is a comedian and an author, born in Atlanta, Georgia. Foxworthy, with roots deep in the South, counts himself as a typical "redneck." Riding the popularity of the country music wave during the 1990s, Foxworthy has parlayed his southern brand of humor into his own huge popularity. With a television situation comedy, several sound recordings, and many books, Foxworthy has become virtually a household word. Foxworthy planned to follow in his father's footsteps by majoring in computer technology at Georgia Tech and working at IBM. Yet he discovered that he gained more enjoyment from making co-workers laugh than working with computers. He eventually quit his job to devote his life to being a comedian. He became famous as an opening act for country music superstars Garth Brooks and Emmylou Harris. Each of his books sold over a million copies. His first recording, You Might Be a Redneck If..., went double platinum, breaking Eddie Murphy's previous record for a comedy recording made in the 1980s. In 1995, Foxworthy starred in the situation comedy The Jeff Foxworthy Show, roughly based on his comedy routines. In 1996, NBC picked up the series, which had lagged on ABC. Jeff Foxworthy's Bio Jeff is hilarious and also is the host of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" where he includes some of his humor!

About the Illustrator: The first of four children, Steve has been drawing, painting and spilling ink on shirts, carpets and chairs ever since. Although he had originally planned to be a high school English teacher, he took a detour and has been an illustrator for over twenty five years now. Besides the advertising, editorial illustration, and over seventy children's books to date, he creates greeting cards with his brother Carl. Over the years more than 100 million of our cards have been sold through Recycled Paper Greetings. While the illustration keeps him busy, the English teacher part of him still creeps out. He enjoys doing school visits and occasional teaching, using my drawing as he speaks, for churches and youth camps. He lives with his wife in Irvine, California, and has three children, a dog, cat and a desert tortoise who is always looking for a way to sneak out of the yard. Steve Bjorkman's Bio

Pre-Reading Activities: What makes up a community? Jot down a word web on the board to show all the places and people who are involved in a community.

Post Reading Activities:  

Drawing-Make a map and include all the shops/stores on Silly Street.This will test their comprehension and "searching for answers in text" skills.

Writing-Make up a place (store, bank, etc.) and create a poem to go along with it. Students can use these poems as an example but also introduce them to different types of poems.