SHEL
SILVERSTEIN
PAG E O N E :
BAC KG RO U N D I N F O R M AT I O N
 Sheldon Allan Silverstein (b. September 25, 1930/d. May 10, 1999)
Author, Cartoonist, Songwriter

University of Illinois- expelled, Chicago Academy of Fine Arts & Roosevelt University

Drafted into United States Armed Forces during 1950s

Worked as cartoonist for Playboy magazine, then a friend suggested he write/draw for
material aimed towards children

Interest in Art:
"When I was a kid - 12, 14, around there - I would much rather have been a good baseball player
or a hit with the girls. But I couldn't play ball, I couldn't dance... So, I started to draw and to
write.”
The Toy Eater
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2
8qAGZA0Itc
PAG E T WO :
S I LV E R S T E I N ’ S S T Y L E
Silverstein’s writing
 Rhyming schemes (…But so delicious, goodness sake- I could have eaten a lentil-soup lake.)
 Plays on words, unique diction (…Would a mop become a mopsicle? Would a cop become a
copsicle?)
 Irony/Figurative language (Can anyone lend me two eighty-pound rats? I want to rid my
house of cats.)
Silverstein’s illustrations
 Black and white, printed on “special” paper
 Refused to have books published in paperback
Excerpts from A Light in the Attic & Where the Sidewalk Ends
PA G E T H R E E :
SILVERSTEIN ON THE WEB
http://www.shelsilverstein.com/
 Great resource for both young learners and educators
 Wide variety of games, printables, animations
 Lessons, activities, event kits
 Ideal for visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, auditory learners
PAG E F O U R :
S H E L I N T H E C L A S S RO O M
Ideas to integrate Silverstein into curriculum
 “The Giving Tree” (Civics lesson, Arbor Day, Earth Day,
Thanksgiving)
 Create student journals with poems, students draw accompanying
pictures
 Remove title of poems to make inferences, create own title or
story based off of image, to encourage higher-level thinking
RESOURCES
 Amick, Sarah. (2009). Shel Silverstein. Librarypoint. Retrieved 2 June
2014. http://www.librarypoint.org/shel_silverstein
 http://www.pinterest.com/weareteachers/shel-silverstein-lessonsand-activities/
 Sheldon Allan Silverstein. (2014). The Biography.com website.
Retrieved 5 June 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/shelsilverstein-9483912.