Shel Silverstein was mastered in the crafts of book and poetry writing, music, and film. Throughout his career, he brought the love of reading to children and adults all around the world. His passion for book and poetry writing has taught children life lessons leading into their adulthood, such as the fact that there is not always going to be a happy ending, but giving up should not be an option. Throughout Silverstein’s life, he made an impact in the book and poetry world and is still continuing to impact readers of all ages today.
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Sheldon Silverstein was born in 1932 in Chicago, IL. He was the first child of Helen Balkany and Nathan Silverstein. Helen was 34 and Nathan was 39 when they decided to start their family (Rogak). Since Silverstein’s parents were older, growing up he was very influenced by them. Nathan constantly told Silverstein to focus on his schoolwork, but instead he focused more on his dream of one day playing for the White Sox. During his teenage years, he decided to become a hot dog vendor so he would get paid to attend each game, instead of paying to see the team play. While he was not busy working as a hot dog vendor, he took up drawing. According to him, he was not popular with the girls and not good at sports so drawing was the next best activity to take up in his spare time.
As Silverstein grew up, he become a very private person, so not much is known about his personal life. (Rogak). In the 1950s, Silverstein joined the U.S. Armed forces, spending most of his time in Korea and Japan. He drew cartoons for the Pacific Stars and Stripes while he was serving. In 1952, Hugh Hefner discovered Silverstein’s work and wanted him to begin as a writer and cartoonist for Playboy magazine. ...
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...oems has influenced children and adults to live out their dreams and to never let the pressures of society conform them.
Works Cited
Bowler, Hillary. "Book Review: Shel Silverstein's Posthumous Collection 'Every Thing On It'." Deseret News. Deseret News, 1 Oct. 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Rogak, Lisa. "Shel games." Salon. Salon Media Group, 20 Apr. 2005. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
"Shel Silverstein (American cartoonist and author)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
"Shel Silverstein." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. 18 Apr. 2014.
Silverstein, Shel. "Where the Sidewalk Ends." Famous Poets and Poems. Famouspoetsandpoems.com, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014.
Weinman, Sarah. "Shel Silverstein Comes Alive in a New Book, 12 Years After His Death." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
On December 10, 1950, in Stockholm, Sweden, one of the greatest literary minds of the twentieth century, William Faulkner, presented his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. If one reads in between the lines of this acceptance speech, they can detect a certain message – more of a cry or plead – aimed directly to adolescent authors and writers, and that message is to be the voice of your own generation; write about things with true importance. This also means that authors should include heart, soul, spirit, and raw, truthful emotion into their writing. “Love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice” (Faulkner) should all be frequently embraced – it is the duty of authors to do so. If these young and adolescent authors ignore this message and duty, the already endangered state of literature will continue to diminish until its unfortunate extinction.
One of my favorite poems is “Happy Ending?” By Shel Silverstein, and the poem is published in his book “Falling Up.” The reason why this is my favorite poem is because it makes a lot of sense to me. I find it naïve to think that everything must have a happy ending, but in this poem Silverstein states the opposite of that. In this poem he admits that endings are very sad, but then states that a beginning and middle should be happy to compensate for the sad ending. The poem makes sense to me, the reason for it being my favorite, because in it he is surrendering to the fact that endings can be sad, but he hopes to make the beginning and the middle of the situation a pleasant one.
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” Writer’s Presence: A Pool of Readings. 5th ed. Ed. Robert Atawan and Donald McQuade. Boston:Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 73-76. Print
Two of the most popular poets of the 19th and 20th centuries are Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath, respectively. These women were born nearly one hundred years apart, but their writing is strikingly similar, especially through the use of the speaker. In fact, in Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy”, she writes about her father and compares him to domineering figures, such as Adolf Hitler, a teacher, and a vampire; and in Emily Dickinson’s poem “She dealt her pretty words like blades—“, she talks about bullies and how they affect a person’s life—another domineering figure. Despite being born in different centuries, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath are parallel in a multitude of ways, such as their choice in story, their choice for themes, and their choice of and as a narrator.
first job as a writer. He was a reporter for the Kansas City Star. The Star
	Few writers of the twentieth century have made nearly the same impact on the literary society than Sheldon Allan Silverstein. His writing encompasses a broad range of styles, from adult to children’s, comical to unusual. One of his most common styles was that of fantasy: actions and events that cannot logically happen. This style was evident in his works, the Loser, Thumb Face, Warning, Squishy Touch, and Skin Stealer. Through the description of these absurd circumstances, Silverstein was able to entertain readers of all ages.
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr was born in Salinas, California on February 27, 1902. He grew up on ranches around the Salinas Valley, learning many skills and also witnessing the harsh lives of the ranch workers during the darkest days of the Great Depression. Steinbeck graduated from Salinas High School in 1919 and attended Stanford University for five years until 1925 when he left without a degree for New York City. He survived off odd jobs and tried to write books, which never were published. He then moved back to California and lived in Tahoe City where he met his first wife Carol Henning. It was here in Lake Tahoe where he finished his first novel Cup of Gold, which followed the infamous privateer Henry Morgan and his adventures in the Caribbean. Stei...
After graduation, Seuss went to Oxford to pursue a doctorate in English. There he met his first wife Helen Palmer, who encouraged him to draw because he obviously enjoyed that more than he liked English. After Seuss and Helen were married, they moved to New York where he got job...
Shel Silverstein is one of the highest selling children's authors (10 interesting facts about Shel Silverstein). Silverstein was best known for his works as a poet, songwriter and singer, cartoonist, and musician (Shel Silverstein Biography Bio.com). Sheldon Allan Silverstein was born to Nathan and Helen Silverstein (Shel Silverstein Life & Timeline). He was married one time which later ended in a divorce (Shel Silverstein Life & Timeline). Within that marriage he had a daughter, however, his daughter later passed away at the age of 11 (Shel Silverstein Life & Timeline). Another thing about Shel Silverstein is he didn’t originally began writing children's books (Shel Silverstein Biography Bio.com). In, short Shel Silverstein is a high selling
VerBruggen, Robert. “Games People Play.” Academic Questions 25.4 (2012): 552-560. Springer Link. Print. 7 Nov. 2013.
His first job on graduating in 1938 was art director of the Junior League magazine, later he worked in the same capacity for Saks Fifth Avenue department store. At the age of 25, he quit his job and used his small savings to go to Mexico, where he painted a full year before he convinced himself he would never be more than a mediocre.
Not much is known about Shel Silverstein’s personal life because he very rarely gave interviews or spoke in public. Shel Silverstein was born on September 25, 1932 in Chicago, Illinois. He served in the US Forces in Korea and Japan in the early 1950s. While in the military he was an artist for the military newspaper, Stars and Stripes. After he arrived home, he became a photographer, writer, and cartoonist for Playboy magazine. He was also a song writer. He wrote hit songs for Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and Bobby Bare. In 2002, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also produced a few films and wrote screenplays. Though never honored for his technical aspects of his poems, he is considered one of America’s greatest poets.
Sheldon Allan Silverstein also know as Shel Silverstein was a very successful American author. He was born September 25,1930 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents are Nathan and Heelan Silverstein they had shel and also a girl Peggy. Shel graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1948, and from there “he went to follow his artistic aspirations, where he studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (presently known as Art Institute of Chicago) then later to Roosevelt University.”(Shel Silverstein biography n. pg) He soon dropped out of school and joined the army in 1953, he served in the Japan and Korean War. “There he became a cartoon artist for Stars and Stripes Magazine. “ ( Shel Silverstein Biography n. pg) “After he was out of the Army he began being a cartoon artist for Playboy Magazine”(Shel Silverstein pg 1), this is what started his fame. “While at Playboy in the 1950s, Silverstein also began exploring other areas of creativity, including writing and music, and he contributed poems to the magazine.”(Shel Silverstein Pg.1) In the 1960’s he had been writing many songs, but he decided to step up his music career in the 1970’s where he won Grammy Award for the song "A Boy Named Sue" and wrote number of other hit songs.While Silverstein had many great music experiences his writing for children's books always brought him back to writing.”Shel Silverstein's books have sold 18 million copies in hardcover and have been translated into 20 languages.”(Shel Silverstein n. pg) One of Shel’s most famous books is “The GIving Tree”. He also wrote some plays to around the 1980’s. Besides all of Shel’s hard work of being a music composer, author, and writing plays he also had a family. SIlverstein and his wife Susan Hastings has a daughter Sh...
and Other Greats : Lessons from the All-star Writer's Workshop. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
Born on March 12, 1928, in Washington D.C., Edward Albee was a couple weeks old when he was adopted by Reed and Frances Albee. He was taken to live in Westchester, New York. His adoptive father owned a chain of vaudeville theaters there, which gave the young Edward an early exposure to theater personalities. It was said that he lived a comfortable childhood having servants, tutors, riding lessons, winters spent in Miami and having an enormous wardrobe in his room sized closet. He was not very happy however. His strong-minded mother and him shared different views. While she tried to mold him into a respectable member of the Larchmont, New York social scene, he strongly opposed and chose to associate with artists and intellectuals whom she found quite objectionable. He felt dejected when she kicked him out of the family mansion for homosexuality. From there he moved to Greenwich Village where he took up such jobs as an office boy, record salesmen, and a messenger for western union which was his favorite. "I didn't use my mind at all, and walking around the Upper West Side was good exercise."