The Missing Piece (book)

The Missing Piece
Hardcover book
Author	Shel Silverstein
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's Literature
Publication date	1976
Followed by	The Missing Piece Meets The Big O

The Missing Piece is a children’s picture book by poet Shel Silverstein.

Plot

The story centers on a circular animal-like creature that is missing a wedge-shaped piece of itself. It doesn’t like this, and sets out to find its missing piece, singing:

Oh, I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
Hi-dee-ho, here I go
lookin' for my missin' piece

It starts out on a grand adventure searching for the perfect piece to complete itself, while singing and enjoying the scenery. But after the circle finally finds the exact-sized wedge that fits it, it begins to realize that it can no longer do the things it used to enjoy doing, like singing or rolling slowly enough to enjoy the company of a worm or butterfly. It decides that it was happier when searching for the missing piece than actually having it. So it gently puts the piece down, and continues searching happily.

Popular culture

The 1998 album Komadić koji nedostaje by the Serbian pop punk band Oružjem Protivu Otmičara was named after the book. Silverstein's drawing which appeared on the cover of the book was used on the cover of the album.^[1]
On the television show Family Guy (episode: "Barely Legal"), Glenn Quagmire gives Meg Griffin the book to help her in her path through adolescence.
In the popular teen fiction book An Abundance of Katherines, this book is mentioned as a gift to child prodigy Colin Singleton from his father. When asked the question, "Do you sometimes feel like a circle with a missing piece?", Colin replies, "Daddy, I am not a circle, I am a boy."

Sequel

A sequel was published in 1981 entitled The Missing Piece Meets The Big O, which is told from a Missing Piece's point of view.

References

↑ Janjatović, Petar (2007). EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006. Belgrade: self-released. p. 287.

Shel Silverstein

Books	Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back The Giving Tree Don't Bump the Glump!: and Other Fantasies The Missing Piece Runny Babbit

Poem collections	Where the Sidewalk Ends A Light in the Attic Falling Up Every Thing on It

Albums	Freakin' at the Freakers Ball Inside Folk Songs Twistable Turnable Man Where the Sidewalk Ends A Light in the Attic

Songs	"25 Minutes to Go" "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" "Big Four Poster Bed" "A Boy Named Sue" "The Cover of Rolling Stone" "Marie Laveau" "The Mermaid" "One's on the Way" "Sylvia's Mother" "The Unicorn" "Wrong Ideas"

Film soundtracks	Ned Kelly (1970) Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)

Screenplays	Things Change (1988)

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