Robert Lewis Stevenson's Birthday

INTRODUCTION
Robert Louis Stevenson was born on November 13, 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied first to be an engineer, and then to be a lawyer. But he did not like either profession; he wanted to read, write and travel. He wrote essays and books about his travels, but he is better known for his adventurous tales: TREASURE ISLAND, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE and KIDNAPPED. He also wrote several books of poetry, but the one that is most remembered is the one he wrote for children, A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES.

POEM

My Shadow

By Robert Louis 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 at 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 nothing 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 beside 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 found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepyhead,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Stevenson, Robert Louis. 1999. A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES. Illustrated by Tasha Tudor. New York: Simon And Schuster. ISBN 0-689823-82-7

EXTENSION
Take chalk outside to the playground. Have half the class trace the shadows of the other half. Wait a few hours and go back out. Have the other half trace shadows of the first half. Compare the sizes. Have the children make guesses about why some shadows are so much bigger than others. What do they think will happen after lunch?
If there is time repeat the experiment twice more in the afternoon.

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