Book Review of The Giving Tree
The Children’s Book Review
The Giving Tree
Written by Shel Silverstein
Ages 3+ | 64 Pages
Publisher: HarperCollins | ISBN-13: 9780060256654
What to expect: Relationships, giving and taking
Not so long ago, I bought The Giving Tree on a visit to a great NY bookstore. I’d seen it before but never read it and thought it might be nice to read to my children. I based my decision to buy it on two things—I had a notion that it was an important book in the canon of children’s literature and I really liked the cover: a simple line drawing of a boy and a tree on a bright green background.
Fast forward a few months and it has become one of the three or four books that *must* be read before bedtime. So I’ve now read it some 60-70 times, but here’s the strange thing: I’m still not quite sure what the moral of the story is. I realize that in this Internet age with sites like Wikipedia and Amazon and any number of blogs and review sites, I *should* be able to figure it out. But I haven’t yet and this makes writing a review a little more difficult than usual.
The story is about a little boy who loves a tree and as he grows he asks for more and more things from the tree. The tree loves the little boy and gives everything she can. Although the tree willingly gives to the boy, he never seems to be fulfilled and she grows increasingly sadder. I won’t give away the ending but it’s poignant and tender and the more I think about it, really sad for a children’s story.
What I take from The Giving Tree, and what I try to subtly convey to my kids when I read it, is that giving is good and important. And we should give what we can because it makes us happy to do so.
Leave us a comment: What does The Giving Tree mean to you and your family?
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The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was reviewed by Luisa LaFleur. Discover more books like The Giving Tree by following along with our reviews and articles tagged with Gratitude, Picture Book, Relationships, and Shel Silverstein.
7 Comments
in the late 70s when i was in high school, “the giving tree” and “the velveteen rabbit” were the two books we teens felt had deeper meaning than just being “for kids.” but even then we were cynical about the messages. on the surface (and to adults) it looked like we were being sophisticated in our appreciation for “classics” of our childhood, but it was no secret that we all felt “the giving tree” was about the nature of greed and how happiness is never achieved by taking advantage of others.
as a bookseller in a children’s bookstore i saw many an adult purchase “the giving tree” or wanting something like it “with a good moral story.”
as for “the velveteen rabbit,” we knew better than to value ourselves in accordance to how much others loved us.
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I would like to use a short piece from the Apple Tree in a book. Is it copyright? Who should I contact?
J Logan Nicholson
I just re-read this classic that I loved as a child. I don’t think the tree “grew increasingly sad” as described here. I think it is clear that the author consistently says the tree was happy as she gave more and more of herself to the boy to please him. It is not until near the ending when she is only a stump that the author says the tree was happy “but not really.” The why of her unhappiness is never discussed and that is where a lot of people speculate. Some interpret this to mean she is not really happy anymore because giving made her happy and she is realizing she is at the end of her life with nothing more to give. Others would say she is unhappy because she is realizing she gave everything to this ungrateful boy who has ultimately deleted her as he continuously placed his desires over her well being. I think the best answer is that we don’t know because the author hasn’t told us and has instead chosen to give us something to think about. But what we do know is that in the end of the book when the tree is only a stump and when that is just the thing her boy needs to rest on, according to the author, the tree is happy to be able to give it. I love this book.
My husband loved me the way the tree loved this boy. When we married I was a young, silly girl who was hungry for everything in the world and wanted to take and take and take. He gave willingly to me everything I wanted and we were BOTH happy. As time went on, I matured and took less or maybe took in a different way but I continued to take from the man who freely signed up to give his entire self to me and who honored the vows he made me. Fast forward to the ending, my husband is no longer living. But it is unlikely I will ever come to love any person as much as I loved that man who woke up every single morning with a desire and objective to make my life a little better, a little more joyful than it was the day before. Do I, looking back, feel sorry for my husband or feel that he was taken advantage of? I do not. I feel that he did exactly what he wanted to do in his giving to me and that in pouring himself out for me the way he did, he not only lived his life exactly as he wished and intended, he also taught me what real love for another over yourself is, making it possible for me to at least aspire to become someone like him someday who is so love filled for others that I too may pour myself out in love even until I have nothing left to give and without ever seeking anything in return.
If I can someday mean for any person what my husband meant for me I believe I will have lived my life very, very well and I believe that at the end of my life I will feel satisfied and ready to go.