Shel Silverstein

"But Shel Silverstein looks more like a burglar or a pirate, than someone who should be writing books for kids."

—Greg Heffley

Shel Silverstein was a real-life author of a book known as The Giving Tree. Greg thinks he looks more like a burglar or a pirate than a childrens-book author, and hence was scared of him when he was younger. As a young child, Greg had a habit of getting out of bed, much to the annoyance of his parents, which lead to his father scaring him with a picture of Silverstein.