Chicago's Shel Silverstein gets a stamp

👋 Hey, Monica here. Some of my favorite CPS memories were listening to teachers read poems from Shel Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends."

• I still get choked up by Silverstein's "The Giving Tree," about a tree that surrenders everything to a boy.

Why it matters: The U.S. Postal Service recently introduced a Shel Silverstein Forever stamp.

• It pays tribute to the late writer and illustrator by using an image from "The Giving Tree."

The intrigue: The stamp made its world debut last week in a presentation at Darwin Elementary School in Logan Square — notable because Silverstein went there in the '40s, followed by high school at Roosevelt in Albany Park.

• What? How did I not know Silverstein went to CPS?
• I hope every area parent who reads his books to their kids tells them about the hometown connection.
• I'll be getting the stamps to send letters to my kids — also CPS alums — and remind them of the days when we used to read "Where the Sidewalk Ends" before bed.