Shel Silverstein

Biography

Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) came to children's books as an outsider. He was a cartoonist for Playboy, a songwriter (he wrote 'A Boy Named Sue' for Johnny Cash), and a poet whose adult work was often dark and sardonic. He reportedly did not want to write children's books initially; Ursula Nordstrom at Harper and Row persuaded him. He never married and had a deeply complicated personal life. His relationship with the idea of giving, receiving, and the nature of love was not simple, and The Giving Tree reflects that complexity. He refused to explain what the book meant, repeatedly deflecting questions about its moral with statements that each reader should decide for themselves.

Shel Silverstein at a glance