History Creator / ShelSilverstein

* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: The poem "Complainin' Jack."

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' has a cover drawing with two children and a dog peering over the edge of the earth -- however, this is not "Where the Sidewalk Ends" -- this illustration is from a different poem in the book called "Edge of the World." The actual poem about "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and has no illustration in the book.

[[caption-width-right:210:How could Shel possibly be so sad?]]

* TrashOfTheTitans: The poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)." [[spoiler:By the time Sarah decides to take the garbage out, it's already become a tower that collapses on her and kills her.]]

** The poem "Fear (Barnabas Browning)," where the titular character is so afraid of drowning that he refuses to leave his room. He dies by [[spoiler: literally crying an ocean and drowning in his own tears]].

** In the poem "Lester", the titular character gets ThreeWishes. He turns out to have some levels of [[InsufferableGenius smartassery]], as he starts spending his wishes ''on more wishes''. [[spoiler:Somehow he dies at the end.]]

* [[{{Duck}} Duck!]]: The poem "Web-Foot Woe."

* NiceHat: Averted with this short rhyme: "Teddy said it was a hat; so I put it on. Now Dad is saying, "Where the heck's the toilet plunger gone?!""

Shel Silverstein (1930-1999) was best known as an author of offbeat children's poetry. He also wrote picture books and song lyrics (most famously "[[Music/JohnnyCash A Boy Named Sue]]"). Fans of his mainstream work may be rather [[BleachedUnderpants stunned to hear]] that many of his songs are ''very'' adult in tone, and that he personally was a real-life ChickMagnet who lived for several years in the actual [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Playboy Mansion]]. He died from a heart attack in May 1999 and was buried in a Chicago cemetery.

His books include:

* AuthorExistenceFailure: ''Runny Babbit''

* AbusiveParents/GettingCrapPastTheRadar:

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' has a cover drawing with two children and a dog peering over the edge of the earth -- however, this is not "Where the Sidewalk Ends" -- this illustration is from a different poem in the book called "Edge of the World." The actual poem about "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and has no illustration in the book. What a letdown, right?

* AbusiveParents:

Shel Silverstein is best known as an author of offbeat children's poetry. He also wrote picture books and song lyrics (most famously "[[Music/JohnnyCash A Boy Named Sue]]"). Fans of his mainstream work may be rather [[BleachedUnderpants stunned to hear]] that many of his songs are ''very'' adult in tone, and that he personally was a real-life ChickMagnet who lived for several years in the actual [[Magazine/{{Playboy}} Playboy Mansion]].

* CoversAlwaysLie: ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'' has a cover drawing with two children peering over the edge of the earth -- however, this is not "Where the Sidewalk Ends" -- this illustration is from a different poem in the book called "Edge of the World." The actual poem about "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is about the grassy spot between the sidewalk and the street, and has no illustration in the book.

* TrashOfTheTitans: The poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)."

* WhenIWasYourAge: Amply demonstrated in the poem "When I Was Your Age."

* {{Spoonerism}}: The entire point of ''Runny Babbit.''

* WasItReallyWorthIt: Played for laughs in the poem "Big Eating Contest."
-->''The entrance fee cost me\\
Two dollars, and then\\
It cost twenty more\\
For those burgers and fries.\\
My hospital bill\\
Was a hundred and ten.\\
But I '''won'''...\\
The '''five-dollar''' first prize!''

* MultipleEndings: "Hippo's Hope." A hippopatamus attempts to fly off a mountain and has three different endings: Happy (the hippo succeeds and soars off into the clouds); Unhappy (the hippo fails and plummets down the mountain breaking all his bones); and Chicken (the hippo turns around and goes home to have cookies and tea).

Shel Silverstein is best known as an author of offbeat children's poetry. He also wrote picture books and song lyrics (most famously "[[Music/JohnnyCash A Boy Named Sue]]"). Fans of his mainstream work may be rather [[BleachedUnderpants stunned to hear]] that many of his songs are ''very'' adult in tone, and that he personally was a real-life ChickMagnet who lived for several years in the actual [[{{Playboy}} Playboy Mansion]].