Shel Silverstein

Sheldon “Shel” Silverstein was born September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, and died May 10, 1999. While he lived, he was a poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, screenwriter, and wrote children’s books. While enrolled in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, he was drafted into the United States Army, and served in Korea and Japan. In 1970, he had a daughter, Shoshanna (meaning lily or rose in Hebrew), with a woman named Susan Hastings. Five years later, Susan died, and Shoshanna went to live with her aunt and uncle, until her own death six years later. Silverstein dedicated one of his books, A Light in the Attic, which was a collection of illustrated children’s poetry, to Shoshanna. He later had a son, Matthew, in 1983. Silverstein won a Grammy, and was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe. In 2002, he was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Silverstein was very particular about his books, and believed that written works needed to be read on paper. As a book collector, he thought the look and feel of a book very important, and very few of his books have paperback editions because of this.

Early Bird

Oh, if you’re a bird, be an early bird

And catch the worm for your breakfast plate.

If you’re a bird, be an early early bird—

But if you’re a worm, sleep late.