Sheldon Allan Silverstein Accomplishments

“I couldn’t dance. … So I started to draw and write.” (Holt 584). Sheldon Allan Silverstein did just that. He wrote many books and poems with a humorous style planting a seed in every child’s heart. Any child to ever read his writing will never forget it. With an interesting childhood and early life, many influences to his writing, and overall amazing achievements.

Little Sheldon Allan Silverstein was born on September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Nathan and Helen Silverstein. He also had a sister named Peggy Myers. At a very young age of twelve, he realized his zest to draw. He then went to study at Chicago Academy of Fine Arts to continue his love of art. “Then, he dropped out of high school and joined the Army in September 1953. During his military services, his cartoons that he drew were published in the ‘Pacific Stars and Stripes’ magazine” (thefamouspeople.com). Shelversteins newly found cartoons hit

“ When I was a kid-12,14 around there- I would much rather have been a good baseball player or hit with the girls. But I couldn’t play ball. I couldn’t dance. Luckily, the girls didn’t want me; not much I could do about that. So I started to draw and write. I was also lucky I didn’t have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I...developed my own style”(Holt 584). Although that might have been very depressing to him then, it is not nearly as depressing as what followed. Silverstein soon fell in love with a girl named Susan Hastings. On June 30, 1970 their daughter Shoshanna Silverstein was born. For the next five years, their lives were joyful, then on June 29,1975 his beloved wife died in Baltimore Maryland. Following up, his daughter died at age eleven on April 24,1982 due to cerebral anurysm (thefamouspeople.com). After that, he never married again. Although, he did have a son named Matthew in 1983 with a woman named Sarah