Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back

Shel Silverstein's first children's book, Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back—a whimsical tale of self-discovery and marshmallows—is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary!

Is a famous, successful, and admired lion a happy lion? Or is he a lion at all? Written and drawn with wit and gusto, Shel Silverstein's modern fable speaks not only to children but to us all!

 First published in 1963, this classic picture book received rave reviews from the New York Times, Time magazine, and Publishers Weekly and a starred review from Kirkus. Now celebrating its sixtieth anniversary, Lafcadio, the Lion Who Shot Back is the book that started Shel Silverstein's incomparable career as a bestselling children's book author and illustrator.

He is also the creator of picture books such as A Giraffe and a Half, Who Wants a Cheap Rhinoceros?, The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, and the perennial favorite The Giving Tree and of classic poetry collections such as Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, Every Thing On It, Don't Bump the Glump!, Runny Babbit, and Runny Babbit Returns.

"You don't have to shoot me," says the young lion. "I will be your rug and I will lie in front of your fireplace and I won't move a muscle and you can sit on me and toast all the marshmallows you want. I love marshmallows."

But the hunter will not listen to reason, so what is there for a young lion to do? After eating up the hunter, Lafcadio takes the gun home and practices and practices until he becomes the world's greatest sharpshooter.

Now dressed in starched collars and fancy suits, and enjoying all the marshmallows he wants, Lafcadio is pampered and admired wherever he goes. But is a famous, successful, and admired lion a happy lion? Or is he a lion at all?

Told and drawn with wit and gusto, Shel Silverstein's modern fable speaks not only to children but to us all!