Here's an enticing review of a Shel Silverstein biography entitled "Silverstein and Me" by Marv Gold. Besides writing those big, amazing volumes of poetry for kids, he lived at the Playboy Mansion and penned "A Boy Named Sue" (Tomi Ungerer, another children's author, also drew cartoon erotica). According to Gold, Shel had no ambition but lots of lofty dreams, spent one stint in the army, three at colleges, and two years in jail for smuggling hash from Marrakesh.
Why do freaks make such good children's authors? Shel Silverstein's demented poems (extra-demented when he reads them aloud: take it from someone who owns "A Light in the Attic on cassette tape) really appeal to kids. But Silverstein did know the power of a book like "The Giving Tree" or a poem like this:
Listen to the MUSTN'TS
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me--
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
