Shel silverstein biography summary form
•
Bio of children's author a first
A BOY NAMED SHEL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF SHEL SILVERSTEIN, bygd Lisa Rogak, Thomas Dunne Books and St. Martin's Press, 239 pages, $24.95
Shel Silverstein was the bedtime staple of millions of children and their parents who enjoyed his books, drawings and comic poems for a generation. Silverstein died in 1999, and "A Boy Named Shel" fryst vatten the first full-length biography of the inventive genius, who dabbled in every art form.
As portrayed bygd his able, breezy biographer, he was a man afflicted with wanderlust, maintaining homes on both coasts and many places between, as well as indulging in regular stays at Chicago's förmögna man Mansion. He was apparently a witty and charming man who made friends everywhere he went.
Almost unknown is his authorship of such hit songs as "A Boy Named Sue" and "The Unicorn."
He drew cartoons for Stars and Stripes and wrote experimental plays, even collaborating on scripts with the famed Da
•
“And now . . .a story about a very strange lion—in fact, the strangest lion I have ever met.” So begins Shel Silverstein’s very first children’s book, Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back. It’s funny and sad and has made readers laugh and think ever since it was published in 1963.
It was followed the next year by four new books. The first, The Giving Tree, is a moving story about the love of a tree for a boy. In an interview published in the Chicago Tribune in 1964, Shel talked about the difficult time he had trying to get the book published. “Everybody loved it, they were touched by it, they would read it and cry and say it was beautiful. But . . . one publisher said it was too short. . . .” Some thought it was too sad. Others felt that the book fell between adult and children’s literature and wouldn’t be popular. It took Shel four years before Ursula Nordstrom, the legendary Harper & Row editor, decided to publish it. She even let h
•
Shel Silverstein
American poet, cartoonist, writer, and songwriter (1930–1999)
Shel Silverstein | |
|---|---|
Silverstein c. 1964 as featured on the back cover of The Giving Tree | |
| Born | Sheldon Allan Silverstein (1930-09-25)September 25, 1930 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | May 10, 1999(1999-05-10) (aged 68) Key West, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Westlawn Cemetery, Norridge, Illinois, U.S. |
| Pen name | Uncle Shelby |
| Occupation |
|
| Genre | |
| Children | 2 |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service / branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1949–1955 |
| Battles / wars | Korean War |
Sheldon Allan Silverstein (;[1] September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American writer, cartoonist, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. During his rise to prominence in