My Shadow

by Penny Dale (Illustrator), Robert Louis Stevenson

An illustrated version of the poem in which a child describes her constant, airy companion, with equal parts wonder, mischief, and wit. Full color.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Childrens

32 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 1999

About the author

Penny Dale was born in Abbey Road near The Beatles' Studio, but grew up in Ottery St Mary. Her first school was so small that all the children were in one classroom, and even that wasn't full. She drew and made things all the time and her dad showed her how to use a hammer properly, something she's still proud of. She made plasticine models of everything she could think of. When Penny was very small, she found her parents' folios from a time when they both went to life drawing classes in London. She remembers being immensely impressed by their drawing, and even though she was very young, she knew she wanted to draw like that one day. At her junior school she was encouraged to draw pictures to complement written work, and this she loved, though this was not encouraged later on at secondary school, which she found disappointing. However, she still managed to illustrate work in some subjects, like Science (lively diagrams), Geography (coloured-in maps) and even made a lift-the-flap Norman Castle in History.

After secondary school, Penny took a Foundation Course at Bristol, then took a gap year to work with the Arts Workshop in Bath, making props and costumes, acting, and counting the takings on foreign tours. Later she did a Fine Art Degree at Exeter, where she met her husband Bryan. After college she began working for a time at the Northcott Theatre, designing and making costumes and props again, before she and her husband moved to Northumberland to work on renewable energy projects and graphic design. Their daughter Sarah was born in Hexham, and a friendship developed with an artist she met at childbirth classes, which led to shared daughter-minding, making time for painting, drawing and print making. A year later Penny moved down to South Wales, where Bryan took up a lecturing post in design. It was there that she started to write and illustrate children's books.


Today Penny is one of the UK's leading illustrators of children's books. Her books have met with great success: BET YOU CAN'T and ONCE THERE WERE GIANTS were included in the UK SATS booklist for many years. WAKE UP MR B! was commended for the Kate Greenaway Medal 1988. ROSIE'S BABIES (written by Martin Waddell) won the Best Book for Babies award and was also shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal in 1990. NIGHT NIGHT CUDDLY BEAR (also written by Martin Waddell) and TEN IN THE BED both won the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award in 2001 and 2002 respectively. JAMIE AND ANGUS (written by Anne Fine) won the BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Award in 2003. Penny has sold over three million books worldwide and has been published in over twenty languages. Her most recent work includes PRINCESS, PRINCESS, as well as THE BOY ON THE BUS and JAMIE AND ANGUS TOGETHER.

Reviews

[Sarah1 Hale]

"My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson (illustrated by Penny Dale) is an absolute classic. This is a story about how a child notices their shadow and they come up with a million creative reasons as to where the shadow goes, what it does, and what its purpose is. The child in the poem discusses how the shadow will grow tall or shrink down short and they notice this isn't how normal kids grow. The child recognizes a connection between her shadow and her, because she sees that it is shaped just like her. The book goes through everyday and night and the ever changing presence and absence of the child's shadow.

I love this book, because I used to read this poem when I was younger and it was my favorite! I love that I get to see the words brought to life with the illustrations by Penny Dale. I think this is an interesting poem, because you get an inside look on the innocent perspective of a child.

I believe this book could be used in a classroom to explain how the mind develops and how the sun and shadows work. Also the big elephant in the room: Robert Louis Stevenson!! You could spend a whole week on him just as a poet and teach your class so much about some of the classics.

[Katlyn Kauffman]

summary- this book is about a little girl who describes the things her shadow does when it follows her. She states that it moves just like her and tries to copy her, but it gets smaller when she goes away from the light but gets bigger when she gets closer. She describes the things the shadow does such as calling it a coward because it stays close behind and follows her but she does not do that to her mom because she does need to. She realizes that the shadow only comes out when light is reflected directly on her.
evaluations- this books is very cute and is actually in poem form. The pages are filled with very good detailed pictures that show the exact location of the shadows.
teaching point- this could be used in a science class where students are learning about shadows. This could help them relate to everyday life as to how shadows are created.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian]

A classic poem in picture book form with watercolor illustrations. It's a good book to share. We jumped our feet when the character jumped into bed and stretched out our arms when the shadow stretched out.

2019 storytime theme: shadows

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Grace Chester]

Summary:
This book is the poem My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson with engaging illustrations that are interesting for young students. This boy's shadow follows him around everywhere he goes. It looks just like him and "grows."

Evaluation:
This poem along with the illustrations is a wonderful way for students to learn about shadows. The cute illustrations along with the content of the poem are the perfect combination to get students engaged in the topic of shadows.

Teaching Idea:
Because of the engaging way that this book talks about shadows, I believe this book would serve as a great way to engage students in a science lesson about shadows. Throughout the book, I would have various stopping points in which I would do think alouds and ask guiding questions to get students thinking about shadows. These guiding questions would be a way to get students to use their higher-order thinking skills.

[Ammie]

This is the first poem J every memorized. So owning a copy of it as a book is a must.

[Natalie Pietro]

Robert Louis Stevenson is best known for his works on such great books as Treasure Island and Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. You would not think of him to write such cute childrens stories. One such story, My Shadow, brings to life the story of one little boy tying to understand why his shadow follows him around all day.
Lately I have noticed my son, every time we are outside, staring at his shadow. Moving his head quickly back and forth making sure not to miss it as we walk on by. So discovering this book seemed fitting and classic.
This new edition with great art work by Penny Dale helps bring My Shadow to life. Plus the part where the children play with their shadow and make an elephant appear is very cleaver. Fun read and great way to teach your child about their shadow.

[Ellias]

I started noticing shadows this spring so Mommy got me some books about them from the library. I really like this one and Mommy says it just goes to show that I have inherent good taste, since it's a classic poem by Robert Louis Stevenson and all. Anyway, I think it's pretty funny and the pictures are really good at showing all the things shadows can do.