Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back is the story of a lion who obtains a hunter's gun and practices until he becomes a good enough marksman to join a circus. And she convinced me that Tomi was right, I could do children's books.' practically dragged me, kicking and screaming, into Ursula Nordstrom's office.

It was Tomi Ungerer, a friend of mine, who insisted.

'I never planned to write or draw for kids. Silverstein did not begin writing for children until he penned Uncle Shelby's Story of Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back, published in 1963.

His work for that magazine has resulted in some published collections, such as A Playboy's Teevee Jeebies and More Playboy's Teevee Jeebies (Do It Yourself Dialogue for the Late Late Show). After his stint in the military, Silverstein became a cartoonist for Playboy in 1956. He was stationed in Japan and Korea, and while in the military, he was a cartoonist for the Pacific edition of the military newspaper, Stars And Stripes. Silverstein's talents were already well-developed by the time he served in the US armed forces during the 1950s. I never saw their work till I was around 30.' I had developed my own style, I was creating before I knew there was a Thurber, a Benchley, a Price and a Steinberg. lucky that I didn't have anyone to copy, be impressed by. But I couldn't play ball, I couldn't dance.

'When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there - I would much rather have been a good baseball player or a hit with the girls. Silverstein discussed the roots of his career in his childhood with Mercier: Most of what is known about his views and opinions, aside from what may be interpreted from his works, comes from a Publisher's Weekly () interview with Jean F. has refused interviews and publicity tours, and he even asked his publisher not to give out any biographical information about him.' What is known about Silverstein, however, is that he was born in Chicago (Illinois) in 1932, is divorced and has one daughter. As Edwin McDowell reported in the New York Times Book Review (), Silverstein 'for several years now.

Where the sidewalk ends best poems