Talk:Shel Silverstein/GA1

GA Review
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Reviewer: Khazar2 (talk · contribs) 21:51, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

I'll be glad to take this review. Initial comments to follow in the next 1-3 days. Thanks in advance for your work on this one! -- Khazar2 (talk) 21:51, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Not listing at this time
This article is off to a good start in some respects; I particularly liked the discussion of the "Now here's my plan" cartoon. But the article still has a long way to go to meet criterion 3a, covering the main aspects of Silverstein's life. (You can see the full criteria here. For example, his poems, arguably the aspect for which he is best known, are barely even discussed; Where the Sidewalk Ends is not even mentioned. The very popular Giving Tree only gets a few lines from an interview. (An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein, in contrast, gets practically a whole section.) His son's name is left out, though this is readily available in the article's sources. Silverstein has many reviewers and received much praise, so it's not necessary to rely on lengthy block quotations from Publisher's Weekly and Otto Penzler; more information could be added here. (The length of the block quotations from Publisher's Weekly also raise copyright concerns, though I can't be sure without seeing the relative length of the original.)

Another, smaller issue is that the lead will need to be expanded to summarize all aspects of the article. You can see instructions at WP:LEAD.

Before renominating, I'd suggest doing some substantial expansion, starting with the sources already listed here; the biography A Boy Named Shel: The Life and Times of Shel Silverstein in particular seems like it could be drawn on far more extensively than it currently is. I hope these comments will help in your revisions. I grew up on Silverstein's songs and poetry and I'd love to see this get to GA status! Just let me know if you have any questions. -- Khazar2 (talk) 19:59, 5 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the feedback! You provided a very good to-do list! I appreciate you taking the time to review. CityMorgue (talk) 08:56, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
 * You're very welcome--glad you're working on this one. =) -- Khazar2 (talk) 12:55, 6 March 2013 (UTC)