The Missing Piece Meets the Big O (Hardcover)

by Shel Silverstein (Author, Illustrator) "The missing piece sat alone... waiting for someone to come along and take it somewhere..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The missing piece sat alone
waiting for someone
to come along
and take it somewhere....

The different ones it encounters - and what it discovers in its helplessness - are portrayed with simplicity and compassion in the words and drawings of Shel Silverstein.

About the Author
"And now, children, your Uncle Shelby is going to tell you a story about a very strange lion -- in fact, the strangest lion I have ever met." So begins one of Shel Silverstein's very first children's books, Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back. It's funny and sad and has made readers laugh and think ever since it was published in 1963.

It was followed the next year by two other books. The first, The Giving Tree, is a moving story about the love of a tree for a boy. In an interview published in the Chicago Tribune in 1964, Shel talked about the difficult time he had trying to get the book published. "Everybody loved it, they were touched by it, they would read it and cry and say it was beautiful. But . . . one publisher said it was too short . . . ." Some thought it was too sad. Others felt that the book fell between adult and children's literature and wouldn't be popular. It took Shel four years before Ursula Nordstrom, the legendary editor at Harper Children's books, decided to publish it. She even let him keep the sad ending, Shel remembered, "because life, you know, has pretty sad endings. You don't have to laugh it up even if most of my stuff is humorous." Ultimately both adults and children embraced The Giving Tree.Shel returned to humor that same year with A Giraffe and a Half.

If you had a giraffe . . .
and he stretched another half . . .
you would have a giraffe and a half . . .

is how it starts and the laughter builds to the most riotous ending possible.

Shel's first collection of poems and drawings, Where the Sidewalk Ends, appeared in 1974. It opens with this invitation:

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

Shel invited children to dream and dare to try the impossible, from making a hippopotamus sandwich to drawing the longest nose in the world, to writing about eighteen flavors of ice cream and Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who wouldn't take the garbage out.

With his second collection of poems and drawings, A Light in the Attic, in 1981, Shel asked his readers to turn the light on in their attics, to put something silly in the world, and not to be discouraged by the Whatifs.

WHATIF
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed thw swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup? . . .

Instead he urges readers to catch the moon or invite a dinosaur to dinner -- to have fun! School Library Journal not surprisingly called A Light in the Attic "exuberant, raucous, rollicking, tender, and whimsical." Children everywhere have agreed and Shel's books are now published in 30 different languages.

Yet Shel did not set out to write and draw for children. As he told Publishers Weekly in 1975, "When I was a kid . . . I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball, I couldn't dance. . . . So I started to draw and write. I was lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be impressed by. I had developed my own style."

He grew up in Chicago and created his first cartoons for the adult readers of Pacific Stars and Stripes, when he was a G.I. in Japan and Korea in the 1950s. He also learned to play the guitar and to write songs, including "A Boy Named Sue" for Johnny Cash and "The Cover of the Rolling Stone" sung by Dr. Hook. He performed his own songs on a number of albums and wrote others for friends, including his last in 1998, "Old Dogs," a two-volume set with country stars Waylon Jennings, Mel Tillis, Bobby Bare, and Jerry Reed. In 1984, Silverstein won a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for Where the Sidewalk Ends -- "recited, sung and shouted" by the author. He was also an accomplished playwright, including the 1981 hit, "The Lady or the Tiger Show." He and David Mamet each wrote a play for Lincoln Center's production of "Oh, Hell," and they later co-wrote the 1988 film, "Things Change," which Mr. Mamet also directed. A frequent showcase for Shel's plays, the Ensemble Studio Theatre of New York produced Shel's "The Trio" in their 1998 Marathon of one-act plays.

Yet Shel Silverstein will perhaps always be best-loved for his extraordinary books. His latest collection, and his last book to be published before he sadly passed away in 1999 ... was Falling Up (1996). Like his other books, it is filled with unforgettable characters such as Screaming Millie who "screamed so loud it made her eyebrows steam." Then there are Danny O'Dare the dancing bear, the Human Balloon and Headphone Harold, and a host of others.

Shel was always a believer in letting his work do the talking for him. So come, wander through the Nose Garden, ride the little Hoarse, and let the magic of Shel Silverstein open your eyes, tickle your mind, and show you a new world.

NEW WORLD
Upside-down trees swingin' free,
Busses float and buildings dangle:
Now and then it's nice to see
The world -- from a different angle.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 104 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (May 6, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060256575
• ISBN-13: 978-0060256579
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,526 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

This book is a great book for kids from one to ninety-two! I read this book with my friend's children in mind and I found that this book has an important message about recognizing who your true friends are and finding that one true best friend who "fits" your personality and lifestyle. I recommend children of all ages and children at heart to check this book out. As always, Shel Silverstein has a very innocent, colorful and fun way of looking at life and this book reflects it. It's a breath of fresh air. For a better understanding of this book however, I would check out Shel Silversein's "The Missing Piece" before reading this one -it's also a very cute book.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uplifting, Encouraging, and Personal, June 19, 2003

By	"amberraed" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

Whether simply a children's book or an adult self-help book, this one is a gem! Adorable simplistic line drawings that make you wonder how an artist is able to create such an expressive characters out of basic circle shapes. Matched with a story that can be taken lightly or taken to heart.

Really, this is the journey of a character becoming a "whole" person...independantly being able to "roll" by itself. It also hints that to be happy in a relationship you must be your own independantly happy person...you can't rely on others to complete your deficiencies.

Anyone who is a "relationship leapfrog" needs to read this book. It may even make you cry-and probably will make you laugh-at the similarities with your own experiences. It is also appropriate for children...it is never to early to introduce someone to lifelong happiness, independance, and stability.

Rolling along...

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This simple story puts "The Rules" to shame., May 5, 1998

By A Customer

Three days after ending a relationship where I was constantly trying to be someone or something else in order to please my partner, I took a vacation that changed my life. On the first night of that vacation, while I was out with friends and family and the last thing I was looking for was another boyfriend, I met the most amazing person to enter my life so far. The next day, I found this book and decided to live my life like the big O. The man and I keep the book on our coffee table, and when we aren't rolling through the streets of the city, side by side, we go home to that wonderful story. Shel Silverstein has amazing insight. Every human should read this book.