SHEL SILVERSTEIN
The legendary bookseller Otto Penzler once admitted that Shel Silverstein was the closest modern man he knew who could be defined as a Renaissance Man. Silverstein (1930-1999), Chicago-born and raised, seemed to have experienced, wrote about, illustrated, and pursued everything in his life. Kicked out of the Universit of Illinois, drafted out of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts into the Army, employed by Playboy Magazine as a travelling commentator on modern society, Silverstein published books of adult cartoons, wrote songs (A Boy Named Sue won a Grammy), wrote screenplays for film and television, stage plays, and somehow, unwillingly, under powerful persuasion by Tomi Ungerer and Ursula Nordstrom, became a children’s book poet/illustrator. His books have sold over 20 million copies. Children love his work, teens love his work, and adults love his work, all for different valid reasons, all for the feeling that he speaks directly to their experience and intuitive grasp that the world is an odd place of danger and humor, joy and tragedy.
I have sold Silverstein since I began working at an independent book store in 1981, when A Light in the Attic was published, his breakthrough book that stormed the publishing world and embarrassed all the bestseller lists. He still makes me laugh, he still moves me, and he still makes me think, all reactions he would — grudgingly — take as worthy tribute.
The Giving Tree with CD
The Giving Tree with CD
The Giving Tree turns fifty! To celebrate the anniversary of this classic favorite by Shel Silverstein, this edition features a beautiful metallic green jacket, a commemorative gold sticker, and a CD recording of Silverstein reading The Giving Tree.
Since it was first published fifty years ago, Shel Silverstein's poignant picture book for readers of all ages has offered a touching interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.
Shel Silverstein's incomparable career as a bestselling children's book author and illustrator began with Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back. He is also the creator of picture books including A Giraffe and a Half, Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?, The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, and the perennial favorite The Giving Tree, and of classic poetry collections such as Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, Every Thing On It, Don't Bump the Glump!, and Runny Babbit.
And don't miss Runny Babbit Returns, the new book from Shel Silverstein!