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Children's reading lists

16 of the best children’s books about love

The Giving Tree

As recommended by Meghan Markle as the one book she can't wait to share with her child - the timeless fable about the gift of love 
 
Once there was a little tree ... and she loved a little boy. 
 
So begins the classic bestseller, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein. 
 
Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk ... and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave. 
 
This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.

A genius ... his is an enduring influence

Wry, humorous ... his poems share the same anarchic spirit as Spike Milligan

That rare adult who can still think like a child

Shel Silverstein's very first children's book Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back was published in 1963, and followed the next year by two other books. The first of those, The Giving Tree, is a moving story about the love of a tree for a boy; it took four years before Harper Children's books decided to publish it. Shel returned to humour that same year with A Giraffe and a Half. His first collection of poems and drawings, Where the Sidewalk Ends, appeared in 1974, and his second, A Light in the Attic, in 1981. When he was a G.I. in Japan and Korea in the 1950, he learned to play the guitar and to write songs, including 'A Boy Named Sue' for Johnny Cash. 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.' The last book to be published before he died in 1999, was Falling Up (1996).

Once there was a little tree ... and she loved a little boy. 
 
So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein. 
 
Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk ... and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave. 
 
This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

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 . . . 
 
Come in . . . for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist. 
 
Shel Silverstein's masterful collection of poems and drawings is at once outrageously funny and profound.

Shel Silverstein

'A genius ... his is an enduring influence'

'That rare adult who can still think like a child'

There's a light on in the attic. 
I can see it from outside, 
And I know you're on the inside ... lookin' out. 
 
Step inside the mind of Shel Silverstein and you'll discover a magic homework machine, a Polar Bear in the fridge and a Meehoo With an Exactlywatt. But beware stolen knees, the babysitter who likes to squash children - and the nighttime peril of the Whatifs! 
This is the second book of beloved poems and pictures from the marvellous master of nonsense, Shel Silverstein.

A Light in the Attic

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Shel Silverstein

Praise for A Light in the Attic

'A genius ... his is an enduring influence'

'Resonates beyond words'

'That rare adult who can still think like a child'

'A genius ... his is an enduring influence'

'Resonates beyond words'

'That rare adult who can still think like a child'

'A genius ... his is an enduring influence'

'Resonates beyond words'

'That rare adult who can still think like a child'

Books by Shel Silverstein

Articles featuring Shel Silverstein

16 of the best children’s books about love

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