Shel Silverstein Forever Stamps, 2022 Sheet – Cards, Letters and Stamp Collecting

This issuance honors the extraordinarily versatile Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), one of the 20th century’s most imaginative authors and illustrators. His picture book The Giving Tree and his quirky poetry collections are beloved by children everywhere.

The stamp features Silverstein’s illustration of a boy catching an apple. A version of the image appears on the cover of The Giving Tree. The boy's shirt is olive green, and his short pants match the red of the apple. The background is green.

The Giving Tree, published in 1964 by Harper & Row, is about a friendship between a motherly tree and a boy. As the child grows older, the tree gives him its shade, apples, branches, and trunk. The story ends with the boy, now an old man, returning to rest against the tree’s stump. The best-selling tale of selflessness, which is accompanied by the author’s elegantly simple black-and-white illustrations, is considered a classic of children’s literature.