Image, Then and Now

The first time I picked up The Giving Tree, I reacted very strongly to the author’s photo on the back. I thought, “This must be an excellent book, because the author is a scary looking guy!” And it was true. Shel Silverstein became one of my favorite children’s books authors.

I thought about him this morning as I got ready to go to a bookstore to discuss doing a book reading there. The Giving Tree was written more than fifty years ago, and I wonder how Mr. Silverstein, who seems rather reluctant to be photographed, would have fared today when everything is recorded and immediately disseminated.