Uncle Shelby's ABZ Book

In my continuing study of Shel Silverstein, I had to read this. I first saw it in the Children's section of Johnson's Bookstore in Springfield, MA in 1985. I remember finding it quite disturbing (specifically, the image of Stanley with blood dripping from his knife: "S is also for Stanley. Stanley is a crazy murderer who likes to murder little boys and girls early Sunday morning."), and I was kind of surprised it was with the childrens' books. Of course, nowadays, it isn't, and it has a big "Adults Only" label on it.

Here's my favorite entry:

O is for Oz

Do you want to visit the wonderful far-off land of Oz where the wizard lives and scarecrows can dance and the road is made of yellow bricks and everything is emerald green?

Well, you can't because there is no land of Oz and there is no tin woodsman AND THERE IS NO SANTA CLAUS!

Maybe someday you can go to Detroit.

He wrote this book in 1961, long before he had written any actual children's books.

Wonderfully, and fittingly, Shel dedicates the book to Jean Shepherd. I guess they were friends -- Jean wrote the liner notes on Hairy Jazz.