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Title: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein ISBN: 0-06-025665-6 Publisher: Harpercollins Juvenile Books Pub. Date: June, 1964 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26 (311 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Disturbing but Thought-Provoking
Comment: Although I dislike the story, I give the author credit for creating such a short book that has generated such a huge amount of discussion. Both environmentally and in terms of relationships, what goes on in this book is disturbing. Not only is the boy's ungrateful abuse of the tree unsettling, but the fact that the tree is a female being taken advantage of by a male has nothing good to say about either sex. The "boy" ages but never matures into a "man," and the tree tries too hard to be loved and does much more than she should to try to please the boy, who becomes increasingly ungrateful. Many of the reviewers here have pointed out that the book is about happiness, and perhaps it is, but is it about the boy's happiness or the tree's happiness? The boy loves the tree and is happy when he takes only things that do not harm the tree, such as fallen leaves and shade. The more he takes, the less happy he becomes. The tree is happy, no matter what she must give the boy, but she becomes less and less of a tree.
Rating: 4
Summary: Beautiful Parable
Comment: This is a beauty parable for how nature gets destroyed providing for our needs and our wants. I am hoping this tells my son (who will be a environmentalist someday I hope) how important trees are for our sustenance. I wish the author had shown the man doing something to restore the apple tree to her glory at the end.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Giving Tree (school age)
Comment: The characters in this book are a boy and a tree. Throughout the story the boy ages, but is always referred to as "the boy". The story is about a relationship between a tree and a boy. The boy enjoys the time he spends with the tree, eating her apples, climbing her trunk or sleeping in her shade. This makes the tree happy. As the boy gets older he becomes more demanding of the tree, wanting things like money and a house. The tree loves the boy and his happy to help him however she can. This is a story about love and self-sacrifice. It can teach a valuable lesson about how we treat the ones we love and how being greedy and demanding can hurt others. The illustrations are extremely simple black and white drawings with little detail of the background. The simplicity of them works well as it develops the characters and follows the story yet allows for the focus to stay with the story itself. The language is simple and leaves the story open for interpretation.
This is a great book; it carries with it a valuable lesson about life and relationships. Children may not be touched or influenced in the way adults are, but the exposure to the story introduces a new concept that can be carried through and reflected upon as they get older and further in their development.
Discussions can go in many directions with this book. Children may simply want to talk about things like climbing trees or picking apples. Children may love this story as just that, a story about a boy and a tree. Some may catch on to the meaning of the story and share their interpretation with the group. Open-ended questions can be used to encourage discussion about the story and it's meaning, ensuring that the positive messages are taken from the story. Asking things like "How do you think the tree felt when the boy was gone?" "Why do you think the tree didn't ask the boy to give her anything?" "Do you think the boy loved the tree?" Children may amaze you with their responses. Discussions and sharing are great extensions of the book. Children can use the information gained from the book and incorporate it into their social interactions, dramatic play, and personal relationships. These discussions can help plant one of many seeds towards the development of social skills and morality.
This book introduces a valuable lesson to children; however the author leaves it open to interpretation and does not force his personal meaning on the reader. Some read the book and see that it is about greed and selfishness, promoting the idea that taking advantage of someone you love is ok. I have heard it dubbed "The Taking Boy". It seems to be a controversial book that people either love or hate. I think, however, that if the educator/reader knows the children and extends the book with appropriate questions and discussions that the children will be exposed a deeper meaning, which can be carried on into future development. Some of us are the tree, some of us are the boy, some of us have been both, but most have been something in between, we can decide which one we want to be.
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Title: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak ISBN: 0060254920 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: November, 1988 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Where the Sidewalk Ends : Poems and Drawings by Shel Silverstein ISBN: 0060256672 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: November, 1974 List Price(USD): $17.99 |
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Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, Ray Cruz ISBN: 0689711735 Publisher: Aladdin Library Pub. Date: August, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein ISBN: 0060256737 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: October, 1981 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson ISBN: 0064430227 Publisher: Harpercollins Juvenile Books Pub. Date: May, 1981 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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