Shel Silverstein and his life...
Sheldon Allan Silverstein was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 25, 1930. In the 1950's he enrolled in the U.S. army, served in Korea and Japan, and soon after became a cartoonist for the Stars and Stripes magazine. When he returned home from the army he started drawing cartoons for magazines like Look and Sports Illustrated but, his work for Playboy is what really put him on the map. Soon Silverstein's cartoon creations were found in every issue of Playboy from 1957 to about the mid 1970's. While working with Playboy he began exploring other creative outlets such as music, writing, and poems.
It wasn't 'till 1963 that he met Ursula Nordstrom, a book editor, that convinced him to start writing children's books. His first children's book was Uncle Shelby's Story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back which came out the same year Nordstrom asked him. In that very same year Silverstein produced two more childrens books which were A Giraffe and a Half and The Giving Tree. Soon after being published, The Giving Tree became a very popular book between mom's, young children, teens, and adults alike. Besides being very popular The Giving Tree is one of the most discussed children's books of all time. The Giving Tree has also been translated into 30 different language and is still placed towards the top when talking about lists of great children's books.
When the 1960's came to an end and the 70's began so did Silverstein's career (and interest) in music. He began composing music including songs like "A Boy Named Sue" (which was later made popular by Johnny Cash), "One's on the Way," "So Good to So Bad," "Sylvia's Mother" (sung by Dr. Hook, 1972) and "Yes, Mr. Rogers."
It wasn't 'till 1963 that he met Ursula Nordstrom, a book editor, that convinced him to start writing children's books. His first children's book was Uncle Shelby's Story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back which came out the same year Nordstrom asked him. In that very same year Silverstein produced two more childrens books which were A Giraffe and a Half and The Giving Tree. Soon after being published, The Giving Tree became a very popular book between mom's, young children, teens, and adults alike. Besides being very popular The Giving Tree is one of the most discussed children's books of all time. The Giving Tree has also been translated into 30 different language and is still placed towards the top when talking about lists of great children's books.
When the 1960's came to an end and the 70's began so did Silverstein's career (and interest) in music. He began composing music including songs like "A Boy Named Sue" (which was later made popular by Johnny Cash), "One's on the Way," "So Good to So Bad," "Sylvia's Mother" (sung by Dr. Hook, 1972) and "Yes, Mr. Rogers."