Close-Ups: Shel Silverstein

There was much more to Shel Silverstein than simple doodles and silly poems.  He possessed a uniqueness in life and art that has never been duplicated.  He was well-known for his popular children’s books such as “The Giving Tree”, “Falling Up and “A Light in the Attic”.  His best selling books delighted tens of millions both children and adults making him one of the most popular children’s author of all time.  That wasn’t all there was to Shel.  He also was a playwright, illustrator, screenwriter and songwriter.

Born as Sheldon Allan Silverstein in Chicago on September 25, 1930 to working class parents, Nathan and Helen Silverstein. He and his sister, Peggy, grew up in the immigrant community of Logan Square




Shel said very little publicly about his private life.  Most information about his childhood comes from various interviews over the years.  In 1975 he told Publishers Weekly “I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls”.  He went on to say “but I couldn’t play ball.  I couldn’t dance.  So I started to draw and to write.  I was lucky that I didn’t have anyone to copy or be impressed by”.  As a teenager, Shel attended Roosevelt High School. Although interested, he was not very popular with the girls. With little athletic talent he hoped the girls would take notice of his artistic talents. Shel spent most of his time drawing pictures. Because he had no real role models or teachers to study art from, Shel had the freedom to develop his own style Shel became a loyal life-time fan of the Chicago White Sox, a team he once dreamt about playing for.

After high school Shel studied art at the University of Illinois.  He was expelled after one year due to poor grades. He transferred to Chicago of Fine Arts but lasted only a year there as well.  Shel ended up at the Roosevelt University where he studied English and contributed to the student paper “The Torch”.
Shel was drafted into the Army during the Korean War forcing to leave school once again without finishing his degree.  According to a 1963 interview in the Aardvark magazine Shel looked at his college years as a waste of time feeling that they could have been better spent "traveling around Europe meeting people, or going to the Far East of Africa or India, meeting people, exchanging ideas, reading all you wanted to anyway, and instead I wasted it at Roosevelt."

Stationed in Japan and Korea in the 1950’s, Silverstein drew his first cartoons for the adult readers of the Pacific Edition of the Stars and Stripes publication where he also worked as a reporter.  He often mocked the military and officers in his cartoons yet he looked back at his days in the Army with fondness for being given the opportunity to grow as an artist.  While in the army Shel  learned to play the guitar and to write songs.  That skill led to writing the lyrics for and composing "A Boy Named Sue" in 1969, which became a number one hit for Johnny Cash.  Also such hits as “The Cover of the Rolling Stone” for Dr. Hook, and ”Unicorn” for the Irish Rovers.  Silverstein released a country music album that he recorded entitled "The Great Conch Train Robbery."

Returning home to Chicago after serving his term in the Army, Shel became a hot dog vendor at Comiskey Park, while doing freelance cartooning work. About a year later, Shel met Hugh Hefner, and got a job cartooning for a gentleman's magazine. It is here that Shel also got the opportunity to travel as he would report stories for the magazine from all over the world.

After a car accident shattered his leg, Shel was forced to stop traveling for a few years to recover. He spent his time on his cartoons and began writing music. Shel Silverstein recorded his first album, “Hairy Jazz” in 1959.

Shel Silverstein never planned on writing for children – surprising for an artist whose children’s works would soon become available in more than 30 languages around the world. It was in the early 1960’s Tomi Ungerer, a friend whose own career in children’s books was blossoming, introduced Silverstein to his editor, Harper Collins’ legendary Ursula Nordstrom. That connection led to the publication of “The Giving Tree” in 1964. The book sold modestly at first, but soon the gentle parable about a boy and the tree that loved him was admired by readers of all ages. It was often recommended by counselors and teachers. Decades after its initial publication (with more than five and a half million copies sold) “The Giving Tree” holds a enduring spot atop lists of perennial bestsellers. ”Where the Sidewalk Ends” was Silverstein’s first collection of poems.  It was originally published in 1974 and hailed as an instant classic because of the madcap mixture of writing and drawings that offered up heart warming and rib tickling tales. Two more collections followed: “A Light in the Attic” in 1981, and “Falling Up” in 1996. Both books dominated bestseller lists for months, with “A Light in the Attic” shattering all previous records for its 182-week stay on the New York Times list. His poetry books are widely used in schools as a child’s first introduction to poetry.

Silverstein enjoyed a long, successful career as a songwriter with credits that included the popular “Unicorn Song” for the Irish Rovers and “I’m Checking Out” written for the film “Postcards from the Edge” which was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 1991. 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 performed his own songs on a number of albums and wrote others for friends, including 1998’s “Old Dogs” with country stars Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed; and his last children’s recording “Underwater Land” with singer/songwriter and longtime friend Pat Dailey.  Silverstein began writing plays in 1981. One of his best known scripts, "The Lady or the Tiger Show," was a one-act play first produced in New York City in the same year. It was a satire about a game show in which contestants risked their lives by choosing between two doors: behind one is a beautiful woman, and behind the other is a tiger. He also collaborated with David Mamet on the screenplay for the 1988 Colubmia Pictures film "Things Change." He wrote the drama "The Devil and Billy Markham", which was combined with David Mamet's play "Bobby Gould in Hell" under the collective title "Oh, Hell! Two One-Act Plays," and was produced in New York at the Lincoln Center in 1989.


Shel Silverstein loved to spend time in Greenwich Village, Key West, Martha’s Vineyard, and Sausalito, California. He continued to create plays, songs, poems, stories, and drawings, and most importantly, in Shel’s own words, “have a good time” until May 10, 1999 when he suddenly died from a heart attack in Key West, Florida.


For more information about Shel Silverstein check out these biographies:

1. Who Wrote That? Shel Silverstein by Elisa Ludwig
   This book is for anyone looking for a comprehensive Shel Silverstein biography. Reading level for ages 12 and up.
2. Shel Silverstein by Cari Meister
   This Shel Silverstein biography is for ages 8 and up. Simple in text and written in chronological order of the events in Shel's life.
3. Meet Shel Silverstein by S. Ward
   This Shel Silverstein biography basically gives you the pertinent dates and facts. Reading level of ages 8 and up.

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