The theater adaptation of Where the Sidewalk Ends was one of our middle school plays at our decidedly “rural” school.
One mom had a problem with it, and it was only with the “rebellious” bits. She shut up when every other parent rolled their eyes at her. It’s crazy how attitudes shift.
by the time I was in school - the age we were reading Silverstein - was the mid-late 80s. he’d a had couple banned by then, but my teachers were in love with him, so I got to read most of his books as a kid. what books of his weren’t assigned were to be found in our school’s library and were often fought over. we had a school that really pushed a curriculum that relied heavily on using both the school and local public library for research, even in elementary school. I remember my parts being annoyed at how often they had to take me to the library for even basic schoolwork.
I loved it.
I really lament that, today, with the internet, there isn’t a central public repository of trustworthy information for research. the closest is Wikipedia, and, for what it is, it’s pretty fucking great. It’s a great jumping-off point for anyone to start learning on any subject, and I’m super-glad it’s there.
bringing it back around, Shel Silverstein was a wry observer of humanity but poked his finger in the eyes of too many powerful critics. He had a way of opening the minds of people - especially children - that made people who would like to manipulate the weak scared that Silverstein’s message would make their efforts more difficult. It’s no wonder the would wish to silence him.
They want objectionable Shel Silverstein? Because that can be arranged.
(I don’t want them banning Shel Silverstein or anyone else, I just think it’s funny that they want to ban the only non-dirty stuff he ever did.)
He (Shel) was published a bunch in Playboy (the above is an example) and he was a great illustrator.
