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.
