The Missing Piece is a true treasure!

The Missing Piece is hands-down, no-question, without-a-doubt my absolute favorite children's book! I first came across this book in the library of a Montisorri preschool when I was working as a sub. I read it to the preschoolers who enjoyed the book as much, if not more, than I did! Soon after that, I purchased a copy of the book for myself and I am so glad that I did. I spent a year as a elementary school substitute teacher and I took this book to every classroom I worked in. It was a favorite for every age from preschool to 5th grade. When I would return to a classroom a subsequent time, the first question from the students was "Did you bring it??". I got so much pleasure from watching the children enjoy a story that I loved so much. Well, enough about how much I love this story. Let me tell you about it.

The Story
The Missing Piece is a story about a circle. This circle, referred to at it in the story, is not complete because it is missing a piece. So it goes off on an adventure looking for a piece to make it whole. Along the way we see how much it enjoys his current life. Not being whole enables him to roll slowly and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. As it rolls along, it runs into some pieces that don't fit and others that fit but are not right or not ready to be someone's missing piece. We follow it through all kinds of adventures until it finally finds the perfect match. However, it learns that finding what it thought it wanted so much was not it was all cracked up to be. On the surface this is just a sweet story about an almost circle looking for the wedge that makes it whole and the adventures he has along the way. If you look deeper you will see an interesting study of human relationships.

The Book
I was quite taken aback when I first saw the book. At 105 pages, I couldn't believe this was a children's book. Even though there is often more than a sentence per page, The Missing Piece is a quick and easy read. The illustrations are quite simplistic, completely done in black and white line drawings. Our hero of the story looks like a young child's version of Pac-Man. I believe that the simple drawings truly fit the story and there would have been no value added by sweeping landscapes and detailed scenery. I have never seen a child who was disappointed with the illustrations for the book.

The Details
This wonderful book was written by Shel Silverstein. There is no credit for illustrations so I assume he illustrated it as well. The copyright date is 1976, so you can see this book has stood the test of time. The Missing Piece is An Ursula Nordstrom Book and published by HarperCollinsPublishers.

I tried to give you good look at this book without giving too much away. I hope you will take the time to read The Missing Piece, because no matter what age you are, I truly believe you will not be disappointed.