The Missing Piece is a children’s picture book

Picture book

A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...

 by poet Shel Silverstein

Shel Silverstein

Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein , was an American poet, singer-songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He styled himself as Uncle Shelby in his children's books...

.

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 happily searching.

Themes/morals

This very simple story deals with the concept of true happiness

Happiness

Happiness is a mental state of well-being characterized by positive emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A variety of biological, psychological, religious, and philosophical approaches have striven to define happiness and identify its sources....

, fulfillment

Fulfillment

Fulfilment or fulfillment may refer to:* Fulfillment house, a type of company that specializes in order fulfillment* Order fulfillment, the activities performed once an order is received...

, non-monogamy and love

Love

Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...

. As Anne Roiphe

Anne Roiphe

Anne Roiphe is an American writer and journalist. She is best-known as a first-generation feminist, and author of the novel Up The Sandbox , which was filmed as a starring vehicle for Barbra Streisand in 1972. In 1996, Salon called the book "a feminist classic."-Background and education:Roiphe...

 explained in The New York Times Book Review: "This fable can also be interpreted to mean that no one should try to find all the answers, no one should hope to fill all the holes in themselves, achieve total transcendental harmony or psychic order because a person without a search, loose ends, internal conflicts and external goals becomes too smooth to enjoy or know what's going on. Too much satisfaction blocks exchange with the outside."

It is a product of the 1970s

70s

-Significant people:* Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Roman Emperor * Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Roman Emperor...

 where being single was more desirable than being monogamous.

Popular culture

• The 1998 album Komadić koji nedostaje by the Serbia
  Serbia
  Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
  
  n pop punk
  Pop punk
  Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
  
   band Oružjem Protivu Otmičara
  Oružjem Protivu Otmičara
  Oružjem Protivu Otmičara is a Serbian pop punk/power pop band from Zrenjanin.- 1990s :...
  
   was named after the book. Silverstein's drawing which appeared on the cover of the book was used on the cover of the album.
• On the television show Family Guy
  Family Guy
  Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
  
  (episode: "Barely Legal
  Barely Legal (Family Guy)
  "Barely Legal" is the eighth episode of season five of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on December 17, 2006. The plot sees Meg developing an obsession with Brian after he accompanies her as her date for the Junior Prom, eventually leading to her kidnapping Brian in order to engage in...
  
  "), Glenn Quagmire
  Glenn Quagmire
  Glenn Quagmire, often referred to as just Quagmire, is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. Quagmire is a neighbor and friend of the Griffin family. He is best known for his hypersexuality...
  
   gives Meg Griffin
  Meg Griffin
  Meg Griffin is a character from the animated television series Family Guy. She is the eldest child of Lois and Peter and elder sister of Chris and Stewie. Meg is considered as the black sheep of the series due to the lack of attention she receives....
  
   the book to help her in her path through adolescence
  Adolescence
  Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
  
  .

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.