Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book

E491045

Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book is Shel Silverstein’s darkly comic, satirical children’s alphabet book that subverts traditional ABC primers with mischievous and absurd humor.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf book
children’s book for adults
satirical alphabet book
author Shel Silverstein NERFINISHED
contrastsWith didactic children’s literature
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
culturalRole example of subversive children’s literature
depicts children engaging in dangerous or mischievous acts
genre alphabet book
humor
satire
hasCharacter Uncle Shelby NERFINISHED
hasCultStatus true
hasForm illustrated book
hasHumorStyle black comedy
nonsense humor
hasMoralStance anti-didactic
hasPageLayout single-letter entries with accompanying text and drawings
hasParatext cover styled like a children’s ABC book
hasTheme absurdity of rules
playful cruelty
subversion of authority
illustrator Shel Silverstein NERFINISHED
influenced later darkly comic children’s parodies
intendedEffect to shock and amuse readers
isPartOf Shel Silverstein bibliography
language English
marketedAs humor book
medium print
narrativeStyle mock-instructional
narrativeVoice mock-kindly but unreliable adult
narrator Uncle Shelby NERFINISHED
notableFor dark humor presented in a children’s-book format
subverting conventional educational messages
parodies traditional children’s ABC primers
relatedWork The Giving Tree NERFINISHED
Where the Sidewalk Ends NERFINISHED
structure alphabet-based
targetAudience adults
older children
tone absurd
darkly comic
mischievous
usesDevice exaggeration
irony
parody

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Shel Silverstein notableWork Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book