| Author | Message | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 5413 Registered: 11-1998 |
Dear Membership – Since I’m such a voracious reader, I thought I’d take the opportunity to introduce you to authors and books you may have missed in your travels. This week, my featured selection is Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. I recently bought this book as a gift for a little girl and thought I would read it first to make certain it was appropriate for her. Well, to my surprise, I found it was not only appropriate for her, but that I had fallen in love with it. She may not get it as a gift after all because I’m seriously considering keeping it for my own library. If you have not read Shel Silverstein, you are missing something wonderful in your life. Yes, the poems are written for children, but even as an adult I found them absolutely delightful. I actually laughed out loud while reading this book which is very rare for me. The poems and drawings also warmed and touched my heart. So, if you are feeling blue with winter coming on and need your spirits lifted, want to buy an inspirational gift for a child, or you are interested in penning poetry for children yourself someday, this is the book for you. It will make you giggle, it will make you sigh, it will take you back to the silly, funny, extraordinary world of childhood. Buy it for a child you love – well, you best buy two copies because you will definitely want to keep one for yourself. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein is available in the WPF BookShop under “Admin’s Featured Five-Star Book Picks." Love, M (Administrator) __________________________________________________________________ Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein __________________________________________________________________ Book Description Including 12 New Poems! If you are a dreamer, come in, If you are a dreamer, A wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, A magic bean buyer . . . Come in . . . for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound. About the Author "And now, children, your Uncle Shelby is going to tell you a story about a very strange lion -- in fact, the strangest lion I have ever met." So begins one of Shel Silverstein's very first children's books, 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 two other 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 editor at Harper Children's books, decided to publish it. She even let him keep the sad ending, Shel remembered, "because life, you know, has pretty sad endings. You don't have to laugh it up even if most of my stuff is humorous." Ultimately both adults and children embraced The Giving Tree. Shel returned to humor that same year with A Giraffe and a Half. If you had a giraffe . . . and he stretched another half . . . you would have a giraffe and a half . . . is how it starts and the laughter builds to the most riotous ending possible. Shel's first collection of poems and drawings, Where the Sidewalk Ends, appeared in 1974. It opens with this invitation: If you are a dreamer, come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . . If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, For we have some flax golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in! Shel invited children to dream and dare to try the impossible, from making a hippopotamus sandwich to drawing the longest nose in the world, to writing about eighteen flavors of ice cream and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who wouldn't take the garbage out. With his second collection of poems and drawings, A Light in the Attic, in 1981, Shel asked his readers to turn the light on in their attics, to put something silly in the world, and not to be discouraged by the Whatifs. WHATIF Last night, while I lay thinking here, Some whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I'm dumb in school? Whatif they've closed the swimming pool? Whatif I get beat up? Whatif there's poison in my cup? . . . Instead he urges readers to catch the moon or invite a dinosaur to dinner -- to have fun! School Library Journal not surprisingly called A Light in the Attic "exuberant, raucous, rollicking, tender, and whimsical." Children everywhere have agreed and Shel's books are now published in 30 different languages. Yet Shel did not set out to write and draw for children. As he told Publishers Weekly in 1975, "When I was a kid . . . I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball, I couldn't dance. . . . So I started to draw and write. I was lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style." He grew up in Chicago and created his first cartoons for the adult readers of Pacific Stars and Stripes, when he was a G.I. in Japan and Korea in the 1950s. He also learned to play the guitar and to write songs, including "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" sung by Dr. Hook. He performed his own songs on a number of albums and wrote others for friends, including his last in 1998, "Old Dogs," a two-volume set with country stars Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed. In 1984, Silverstein won a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for Where the Sidewalk Ends -- "recited, sung and shouted" by the author. He was also an accomplished playwright, including the 1981 hit, "The Lady or the Tiger Show." He and David Mamet each wrote a play for Lincoln Center's production of "Oh, Hell," and they later co-wrote the 1988 film, "Things Change," which Mr. Mamet also directed. A frequent showcase for Shel's plays, the Ensemble Studio Theatre of New York produced Shel's "The Trio" in their 1998 Marathon of one-act plays. Yet Shel Silverstein will perhaps always be best-loved for his extraordinary books. His latest collection, and his last book to be published before he sadly passed away in 1999 ... was Falling Up (1996). Like his other books, it is filled with unforgettable characters such as Screaming Millie who "screamed so loud it made her eyebrows steam." Then there are Danny O'Dare the dancing bear, the Human Balloon and Headphone Harold, and a host of others. Shel was always a believer in letting his work do the talking for him. So come, wander through the Nose Garden, ride the little Hoarse, and let the magic of Shel Silverstein open your eyes, tickle your mind, and show you a new world. NEW WORLD Upside-down trees swingin' free, Busses float and buildings dangle: Now and then it's nice to see The world -- from a different angle. | ||
| Kathy Paupore
Senior Member Username: kathy Post Number: 2595 Registered: 12-2003 |
M, I have most of his books. My daughter introduced me. Very enjoyable. I think his most famous poem is Hug-o-War, at least it's the one I've seen around the most. I pretty sure he just put out another book, but the title escapes me right now. Thanks for sharing.  K | ||
| M
Board Administrator Username: mjm Post Number: 5414 Registered: 11-1998 |
Yes, his latest (published posthumously) is "Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook." I'm sure it is just as delightful as all his others. Such a shame to lose a talent such as his. Love, M | ||
| Penelope
Valued Member Username: penelope Post Number: 273 Registered: 07-2005 |
M, yes, this is wonderful book. I bought it for my daughter twenty or more years ago for Christmas. I remember we couldn't get it away from her grandpa! Thanks for putting the word out about this book and author for those who may not have discovered him yet. Penelope | ||
| Mudcat Miller
Member Username: mudcat Post Number: 55 Registered: 08-2005 |
Shel used to sing at the Nashville club in which I tended bar, back in the days when everybody knew everybody and we were all so brilliant. He was a great growling bear of a performer, and much loved. His death was one in a series that left a pall on Elliston Place. | ||
| Joshua Johnston
New member Username: silverfire Post Number: 31 Registered: 06-2005 |
I may be one of the few people here young enough to have read Shel Silverstein's stuff as a kid, it seems. LOL He was one of my favorites as a kid, and definitely a good choice for a 5 Star Book Pick. I didn't know all the other stuff mentioned, however; the songs, adult cartoons, etc. I agree that the world is a little worse off without him. He brought a lot of much-needed humor. |
