Natural & raised within Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein claimed he never studied a poetry of others, & so developed his have style. His style was placed-mellow & colloquial, once in a while using profanity & recent slang. He wrote by having an insensible, un-self-conscious manner that saved attention focussed on a subject matter, non the language.

Silverstein began as a writer & cartoonist for Playboy magazine in the 1950s (& ended higher sleep in the Playboy Mansion for an extended period), however he is better known for writing & illustrating his children's literature including The Missing Piece, The Missing Piece Meets the Big O, A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up and The Giving Tree. He too wrote ''Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book'', a satirical mock children's book, and created Different Dances, a coffee-table book of wordless, adult-themed cartoons.

Silverstein saved the moo profile however cast an extended shadow. He tended to shun publicity & potentially lensman. Still, his musical output involved several songs which were hits for more creative person. For instance, he wrote a music & lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue", performed by Johnny Cash (for which he won a Grammy in 1970); "One's On the Way" (which was the hit for Loretta Lynn), and "The Unicorn Song", which became a signature piece for The Irish Rovers. He wrote a lyrics & music for virtually all of the Dr. Hook songs, including "Cover of the Rollin' Stone," "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball," and "Sylvia's Mother". He wrote several of the songs performed by Bobby Bare, including "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe", "Mermaid", "The Winner", & "Tequila Sheila". He likewise co-wrote many songs sustaining David Allen Coe, including the controversial "Nigger Fucker."

He co-wrote a screenplay Things Change with David Mamet, and was nominative for an Oscar for his music for the film Postcards from the Edge. He likewise composed original music for many more films, & displayed the musical versatility around these projects, swimming guitar, piano, saxophone and trombone.

Silverstein believed that written works required to become see in paper, & sustaining the correct paper for the act. He commonly would non allow his verse form or even stories to become published unless he may take a nature & severity, size, shape and color of the paper himself.

He continued to write conversational poetry now and again throughout his life, including the rap version of Shakespeare's Hamlet that was published (on yellow-yellowish-beige specialty paper) within Corinthian Magazine in 1998.

Shel Silverstein was inducted into a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Silverstein died of the heart attack at the age of 68 in Key West, Florida.

Around 2005, a antecedently unpublished collection of verse form & illustrations, entitled Runny Babbit, was published. When a title suggests, each verse form & illustration in the book consists of spoonerisms.

Partial list of books
1961? ''Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book 1964 A Giraffe and a Half 1964 The Giving Tree 1974 Where the Sidewalk Ends 1976 The Missing Piece 1979 Different Dances 1981 A Light in the Attic 1981 The Missing Piece Meets the Big O 1996 Falling Up 2005 Runny Babbit'' (published posthumously)