Shel Silverstein Biography & Tribute
His immensely popular poetry collections include Where the Sidewalk Ends, which received a Michigan Young Readers Award in 1974, A Light in the Attic, which received a School Library Journal Best Books Award in 1982, and, most recently, Falling Up (HarperCollins, 1996). Look for these books in our Poetry Shoppe in the near future. Until then, read my own tribute to Uncle Shel. You can hear the audio version by clicking the play button below. I hope you enjoyed reading this Shel Silverstein biography.
Uncle ShelIt was a sad, sad day. Uncle Shel Silverstein Had just passed away. A wild old wit An artist and poet A Light in the Attic, Uncle Shel wrote it. And where the sidewalk ends There is a Giving Tree, And under its branches, Old Shel would sing. For dreamers and wishers For hope-ers and liars For pray-ers, pretenders And magic bean buyers. And children would gather To hear his strange tales Of crocodiles eating dentists And girls eating whales. Of rock-'n-roll bands Beating on pails, And one crying and spying Young sister for sale. There were flying festoons A deserted dark house; And Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Never took her garbage out. There was Clarence Lee from Tennessee And Jimmy Jet turned into a TV. Dancing pants, sleeping sardines, A farmer, a fish, a flag and a queen. Uncle Shel made us laugh And sometimes we'd scream. He made us believe in the wildest dreams. But now he is gone, Some say he died. But we know that's just the silliest lie. Shel Silverstein is not dead, He's just gone for a ride. Why, I saw him flying high in the sky. He was riding on top On a flying shoe With Ickle Me, Pickle Me And Tickle Me Too. He sailed over the sun And beyond the blue, But look what he left - His books for you. Click to return from Shel Silverstein Biography back to Famous Poets 
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The Shel Silverstein biography starts on September 25, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. Shel (also known as Uncle Shelby) was born on that day. He was a composer, an artist, and the author of numerous books of prose and poetry for younger readers. Silverstein claimed he never studied the poetry of others, and therefore developed his own style. He also believed that written works needed to be read on paper, and with the correct paper for the work. He usually would not allow his poems or stories to be published unless he could choose the type, size, shape, and color of the paper himself. Being himself a book collector, he took the feel and look - the paper, the type, the binding - of his titles very seriously. He did not allow his books to be published in paperback, but this doesn't seem to have affected his popularity: his books sold more than 14 million copies. He died in May of 1999.
