Shel Silverstein
Teacher Resource File

Welcome to the Internet School Library Media Center Shel Silverstein page. You will find biography, bibliography and lesson plans. For other children's authors, see Children's Authors & Illustrators. The ISLMC is a meta-site for librarians, teachers, parents and students. You can search this site, use an index or sitemap. 7/11/02.

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Biography

We all will miss our favorite poet who passed away from a heart attack on May 10, 1999. He will be remembered for generations to come through the joy he will continue to bring to children and adults through his life's work.

Shelly Silverstein, most commonly known as Shel Silverstein, was born in Chicago, Illinois, on September 25. The books I read said he was born in 1932, but some other sources give his year of birth as 1930. His full name was Sheldon Allan Silverstein. He is best known in children's literature for his poetry; however, he was also a cartoonist, composer, lyricist and folksinger. His poem, The Unicorn Song, was recorded by the Irish Rovers. Other hit songs included "A Boy Named Sue" and "The Cover of the Rollin' Stone" for Dr. Hook. He composed the music for the movies, Ned Kelly (1970), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Such Terrible Things About Me? (1971), and Thieves (1977). He composed music for the film, Postcards from the Edge for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award in Music for the song, "I'm Checkin Out." A man of many talents, he co-wrote the screenplay for the film, Things Change (1988) with David Mamet.

Shel began writing as a young boy in Chicago. Although he would rather have been playing baseball or chasing girls, he could not catch or hit a ball, and the girls were not interested in him. He gave his energies to writing. He developed his very own writing style at a young age and was unfamiliar with the poetry of the great poets of his time. "I was so lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style, I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. I never saw their work until I was around thirty (1)" By the time girls were interested in him he was involved in his work."

Silverstein's work goes beyond writing children's literature. He began his career as a writer and cartoonist for an adult magazine in 1952. He had served as a member of the U. S. military forces in Japan and Korea during the 50's. While in the military, he was a cartoonist for the military newsletter, Pacific Stars and Stripes. In 1980, he produced a new folksong album entitled The Great Conch Train Robbery. His first play, The Lady or the Tiger Show, was produced at the Ensemble Studio Theater's annual festival of one act plays.

Silverstein never planned on writing and drawing for children. His friend, Tomi Ungerer, brought him to Ursula Nordstom's office where she convinced him to do children's books. One of his earliest and most successful books, The Giving Tree, was rejected by editor William Cole. Cole felt that the book fell between adults' and children's literature and would never sell. In Silverstein's eyes, it was a story about two people; one gives and the other takes. Ultimately, both adults and children embraced the book. He hoped that people, no matter what age, could identify with his other books as well. His works include Falling Up (1996), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1981), A Light in the Attic (1981), The Missing Piece (1982), The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. He won awards for all three books: The Michigan Young Readers Award for Where the Sidewalk Ends (1981); a School Library Journal Best Books (1982) for A Light in the Attic, an International Reading Association's Children's Choices Award for The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.

Visit the American Academy of Poets Shel Silverstein Page where you will find biographical information. The site also has an article, an article, "Serious Play; Reading Poetry with Children".

A man of many talents, Silverstein wrote to reach out to as many people as he could with his writing. "I would hope that people, no matter what age, would find something to identify with in my books, pick one up and experience a personal sense of discover. That's great. But for them, not for me (2).

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Other Links

Interested in his movie work: You can learn more by running a composer and writer search for him at Academy Awards

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Lesson Plans

Poetry for the Elementary Classroom
Grades 3-4; language arts. By Francis J. Degnan. From Yale New Haven
Lesson Plans
Rain Forest Unit
Poem: Boa Constrictor
Writing W Poems
Grades 4 & 5; by Kathi Twiselton; A Light in the Attic;
from AskERIC
If Trees Could Speak, What Would They Say?
Grades 3 to 6; by Dawn Carlson; language arts, science, botany;
The Giving Tree; from AskERIC
Apples
Grades 1 to 6; interdisciplinary activities; by Linda Huff;
The Giving Tree; from AskERIC
Our Environment
Grades 2 and 3; environmental education & science; uses poem,
"Sara Jane Amanda Stout Wouldn't Take the Garbage Out";
from AskERIC
From Seeds to Plants
Grades 1 to 3; science, botany; The Giving Tree;
from AskERIC
Collaborative Thematic Units: Rain Forests and Planet Ecology
Grades 3-5; Boa Constrictor;Boa Constrictor Song
Cloud With A Chance of Meatballs
Grade 3; language arts; uses the book by Judi Barrett; also
the poem, "Pancakes," by Silverstein

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Bibliography

ISLMC Shel Silverstein Juvenile Bibliography

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References


You'll find interesting information about Shel Silverstein and other authors by visiting your school or public library and finding the reference books, including:
Children's Literature Review. Gale, 1983, v5, pp208-213

Fifth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators. H.W. Wilson, 1983, pp.288-289.

Something About the Author. Edited by Alan Hedblad. Gale, v92. (1)p213; (2)p214

Twentieth-Century Children's Writers. 4th ed. St. James Press, 1995.

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