As well as being a recognized cartoonist, song writer, playwright and performer, Shel Silverstein was one of the most beloved children’s poets of all time. Author of such children’s classics as Where the Sidewalk Ends , A Light in the Attic, Falling Up and The Giving Tree, Silverstein wrote prolifically and enthusiastically.
After Silverstein’s death, his family gathered about 130 unpublished poems from his extensive personal archives and published them in a new collection, entitled Every Thing on It.
Fortunately, this new poetry collection has lost none of the infectious humour which, over the years, has made Silverstein’s poetry so popular with children (and probably adults too). Clever, fun, gleeful and always enhanced by a quirky illustration or two, his poems inevitably leave readers wanting more – or even wanting to try writing their own poems.
In Silverstein’s newly-published poems, readers will discover why asking for a hot dog “with everything on it” is not a good idea, why you should never criticize someone’s hat, what happened to “Stick-A-Tongue-Out-Sid” and what really happened when the prince found Cinderella’s shoe!
Poignantly, the last poem in this collection is entitled When I am Gone. “When I am gone what will you do? Who will write and draw for you? Someone smarter – someone new? Someone better – maybe you!”