I was OBSESSED with Shel Silverstein poems as a child, I still have Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic and I would read them cover to cover and then start all over again. He is a singular talent and proof that kids have always been weird
I grew up reading Shel Silverstein and listening to Johnny Cash, but never realized there was overlap! It makes SO much sense now that I know he wrote A Boy Named Sue!
i only know the giving tree but your beautiful description '..cabinet of curiosities that display a huge peachy sense of humor wrapped around a small darkness.' sure sounds like i should read more of his stuff
Also, in college I read a lot of uncomfortable books. A lot of them has themes of SA of one kind or another (this one semester it felt like every single book I read, though it was probably like 5/50.) it's hard. It's uncomfortable. It's okay to pick and choose for yourself what you do and don't want to read. But sometimes I'm glad for books that challenged me. And sometimes I'm mad and feel like they wasted by time being edgy for no reason. But that doesn't mean it's wasted. Again, it's different with kids. You have to protect them. But that protection is charged.
It's definitely different with kids, and something interesting is that quite a few of the "most challenged" books listed by the ALA are memoirs, meaning that they wouldn't even be shelved in the children's section. Strikes me as a thinly veiled attempt to Get Rid of the Gay Books, when truly the solution is easy as not bringing your kid to the adult section/stopping them before they try to read the Gay Book.
Not everything is for kids, and that's okay, but totally barring access even to adults is a fool's errand. We can see a lot of benefits from being challenged, just like you mentioned. Worst that can happen is you waste a few hours of your life on some edgy meritless bullshit.
I loved Shel Silverstein as a kid and still do as an adult. As for him doing stuff for playboy, there seems to be this idea that writers who create children's media need to be pure. But they're adults. So it makes sense that they've created stuff that's not for kids. I'd rather have a writer making two sets of work then writers who stealth weird stuff into kids books. (Thinking of a lot of the weird YouTube kids media in particular.) It's so easy to try and control the culture under the guise of "just think of the children!" I think the reason I loved Shel Silverstein as a kid is he seems to understand that there is a deep sadness that can come with being a child and he connects with that on a child's level. If anything, the Giving Tree is an important book about the dangers of codependence. Also, I also took it as an allegory about the environment more than anything. Like we're not like, "Hell yeah, the boy is a hero." We feel sad for the tree and feel there was an injustice done while acknowledging the bittersweet ending of still being wanted/useful at the end of both their lives. I don't know. It's complicated. It's a story. Stories that are "X Good Thing is Good and Bad Thing is Bad" are boring.
Thanks for such a thoughtful comment! You know, we ought to cast aside book banning and get onto banning those predatory "kids'" YouTube channels. That stuff seriously darks me out and is much more dangerous than a few sly jokes.
Also, I support the environmental read of The Giving Tree. Obviously none of us are rooting for the boy to cut the tree down, but I don't expect book banners to understand that not every story should be as straight forward as "good guy vs bad guy"...
I remember that even back then, there were certain parents who didn't approve of him and who thought his writing was too adult for children. Thank dog that my parents didn't hop on that bandwagon.
I have to think that the people who criticized Silverstein's work most vocally were confusing his writing for children with the very adult songs he wrote for Johnny Cash and Dr. Hook...
I was OBSESSED with Shel Silverstein poems as a child, I still have Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and A Light in the Attic and I would read them cover to cover and then start all over again. He is a singular talent and proof that kids have always been weird
Yesss, my heart!!! 🥲❤️ Needless to say I agree on all fronts.
I grew up reading Shel Silverstein and listening to Johnny Cash, but never realized there was overlap! It makes SO much sense now that I know he wrote A Boy Named Sue!
i only know the giving tree but your beautiful description '..cabinet of curiosities that display a huge peachy sense of humor wrapped around a small darkness.' sure sounds like i should read more of his stuff
I highly recommend checking out his poetry collections! Huge variety, quirky illustrations, really fun to dig into.
Also, in college I read a lot of uncomfortable books. A lot of them has themes of SA of one kind or another (this one semester it felt like every single book I read, though it was probably like 5/50.) it's hard. It's uncomfortable. It's okay to pick and choose for yourself what you do and don't want to read. But sometimes I'm glad for books that challenged me. And sometimes I'm mad and feel like they wasted by time being edgy for no reason. But that doesn't mean it's wasted. Again, it's different with kids. You have to protect them. But that protection is charged.
It's definitely different with kids, and something interesting is that quite a few of the "most challenged" books listed by the ALA are memoirs, meaning that they wouldn't even be shelved in the children's section. Strikes me as a thinly veiled attempt to Get Rid of the Gay Books, when truly the solution is easy as not bringing your kid to the adult section/stopping them before they try to read the Gay Book.
Not everything is for kids, and that's okay, but totally barring access even to adults is a fool's errand. We can see a lot of benefits from being challenged, just like you mentioned. Worst that can happen is you waste a few hours of your life on some edgy meritless bullshit.
I loved Shel Silverstein as a kid and still do as an adult. As for him doing stuff for playboy, there seems to be this idea that writers who create children's media need to be pure. But they're adults. So it makes sense that they've created stuff that's not for kids. I'd rather have a writer making two sets of work then writers who stealth weird stuff into kids books. (Thinking of a lot of the weird YouTube kids media in particular.) It's so easy to try and control the culture under the guise of "just think of the children!" I think the reason I loved Shel Silverstein as a kid is he seems to understand that there is a deep sadness that can come with being a child and he connects with that on a child's level. If anything, the Giving Tree is an important book about the dangers of codependence. Also, I also took it as an allegory about the environment more than anything. Like we're not like, "Hell yeah, the boy is a hero." We feel sad for the tree and feel there was an injustice done while acknowledging the bittersweet ending of still being wanted/useful at the end of both their lives. I don't know. It's complicated. It's a story. Stories that are "X Good Thing is Good and Bad Thing is Bad" are boring.
Anyway all that to say, great article!
Thanks for such a thoughtful comment! You know, we ought to cast aside book banning and get onto banning those predatory "kids'" YouTube channels. That stuff seriously darks me out and is much more dangerous than a few sly jokes.
Also, I support the environmental read of The Giving Tree. Obviously none of us are rooting for the boy to cut the tree down, but I don't expect book banners to understand that not every story should be as straight forward as "good guy vs bad guy"...
I adore Shel Silverstein 🥰. Honestly, I credit his books, at least partially, for the glorious weirdness that I am today!
Yessss same here! His books are like outsider art for kids lol
I remember that even back then, there were certain parents who didn't approve of him and who thought his writing was too adult for children. Thank dog that my parents didn't hop on that bandwagon.
I have to think that the people who criticized Silverstein's work most vocally were confusing his writing for children with the very adult songs he wrote for Johnny Cash and Dr. Hook...
Gotta be, right? No other way people would take his silly little poems THAT seriously…