Every Thing On It

A spider lives inside my head
Who weaves a strange and wondrous web
Of silken threads and silver strings
To catch all sorts of flying things,
Like crumbs of thought and bits of smiles
And specks of dried-up tears,
And dust of dreams that catch and cling
For years and years and years . . .

Have you ever read a book with everything on it? Well, here it is, an amazing collection of never-before-published poems and drawings from the creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up. You will say Hi-ho for the toilet troll, get tongue-tied with Stick-a-Tongue-Out-Sid, play a highly unusual horn, and experience the joys of growing down.

What's that? You have a case of the Lovetobutcants? Impossible! Just come on in and let the magic of Shel Silverstein bend your brain and open your heart.

Amazon Exclusive: A Q&A with Toni Markiet, Shel Silverstein’s Longtime Editor

Q: What was the first book you worked with Shel Silverstein on?

Markiet: The first book was The Missing Piece in 1976. I was the assistant to his editor at that time, Edite Kroll. Was I lucky!

Q: What was his creative process like and how did you two work together?

Markiet: I remember most clearly that Shel was meticulous in every aspect of a book... the trim size, the paper, the binding and of course, the contents. No piece of the whole was too small to consider carefully. He looked at every spread to be sure art and text were positioned the best way possible. And, he considered every word and expression until it, and the whole text, was just right. I learned how a book is made in the best possible way.

Q: Shel passed away in 1999 but more than ten years later you’re publishing Every Thing On It, which includes tons of his never-before-seen poems and drawings. Can you tell us how this project came to be?

Markiet: Over the years, Shel continued to write and draw and work on poems. He left a rich archive of finished material. In the past few years, the Silverstein family has allowed us to unveil some of these in special editions of both Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. The response was so amazing that the family felt it was now the right time to publish this book.

Q: What is your favorite poem from Every Thing On It?

Markiet: This is an almost impossible question to answer but if pressed, I will say “Mer-Maid.”