Shel Silverstein’s September book revealed

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A new collection of never-before-seen poems and drawings by Shel Silverstein will be released in September. The book is titled ‘Every Thing on It,’ and this week publisher HarperCollins Children’s Books released the image of the cover, at left.

The poems and drawings in the book were selected by family members from his archives -- Silverstein died in 1999 -- and care has been taken to echo his best-known works.

Silverstein’s books of poetry for children -- ‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ and ‘A Light in the Attic’ -- were both bestsellers. He was also the author of the bestselling children’s picture book, ‘The Giving Tree.’

Silverstein also wrote for adults, contributing cartoons to Playboy, writing plays and penning the Grammy-winning song ‘A Boy Named Sue,’ made famous by Johnny Cash.

There was both silliness and irreverence to Silverstein’s work, and this adult reader is delighted that there will soon be more of his children’s poems published. But I’m worried that I might spill something on ‘Every Thing on It’ -- when I eat, I still tend to get spaghetti spaghetti all over the place.

-- Carolyn Kellogg