The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein
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Book Reviews of The Giving Tree
Book Review: Proceed with Caution into This Beauty
Summary: 5 Stars
I noticed that there were negative reviews for this book and, even though I've always loved it, I could immediately guess what the basis for objection was: the abuse of the tree. I'm sure most of you know that this is about a tree who loves a boy and supports him throughout his life, giving him parts of herself as he needs them: her leaves, her limbs, and ultimately, her trunk. The boy, in turn, doesn't seem to realize how sad the tree is when he leaves her again. He has high hopes in life and he is bent on making them happen with whatever she gives him.
I don't see this at all as a book promoting abuse, but it could be taken the wrong way. In some ways, it's a lot like the original tale of "The Little Mermaid": the heroine loves a boy and gives him everything inspite of his blindness to her needs. While that particular fairy-tale is definitely not for children, I don't think this book could harm them...provided that a responsible adult is there to discuss it with them. It definitely has a happier ending than the mermaid tale: rather than the tree pining away and dying of a broken heart, the boy returns when he's too old to do much of anything and finally appreciates the tree's greatest gift: simply being there and supporting him. Throughout the book, the boy's aspiration is to live and the tree's is to give. It is not until the end of the book, when they both realize that their spans are almost over, that they are finally united for good.
I enjoyed this book as a child and I intend to read it to my own children, but I do agree with the points that the negative reviewers made about abusing love. Do read this with your children and be ready to address certain issues. I personally will continue to keep this book on my Amazon list of recommended reading for children, but I'll add a word of caution for parents.
Book Review: From a Jewish Educator's Perspective -A Tu Bishvat Must Read
Summary: 5 Stars
"And then the tree was happy... But not really." Ever since I made the decision to become a rabbi several years ago, I have had a recurring vision of my future rabbinate. In this vision, I am sitting in a nursery school classroom at the synagogue reading The Giving Tree, my favorite children's book, to the class. It is a tender story with many lessons to give about a young boy's relationship with a tree. Through the years I have discovered many of the metaphors that abound throughout this parable - metaphors about nature, parents, and God. The tree has a simple goal, and that is to make the little boy happy. When he asks the tree for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches as lumber. He keeps asking and she keeps giving, until all that is left of the tree is a stump when the young boy returns as an old man. And he sits on it.
This is a wonderful story for teachers to use when discussing the law of bal tashchit - the Torah's ban on wanton destruction of nature. Our role as God's children is to repair the world (l'taken olam b'malkhut shaddai) and we must be careful not to exploit such precious gifts as trees, and nature's other resources.
It is telling that as the boy matures into an old man, Silverstein continues to refer to him as the "boy." This shows that the tree continued to give even as the boy grew, just as this wonderful book continues to give even as the audience of young boys and young girls gets older. People of all ages will appreciate the feelings of both joy and tears that this book elicits. This is why I no longer only envision myself as a rabbi sharing The Giving Tree with nursery school children, but with "children" of all ages as well. Each time I read this story, I am taken away and then I am happy... But not really.
Book Review: I can't find anything to like about this book...
Summary: 1 Stars
What I dislike the most about the book is that my child hated it. I don't read books to my children to teach them lessons, I do it for enjoyment, relaxation and to instill a love of reading. I feel a little bit "emperor's new clothes" about this book, as if people assume anyone who doesn't like it is some unsophisticated simpleton trying to raise their kid in a delusional fantasyland.
If you have a sensitive child as I do, please proceed with extra caution. I'll never forget my daughter's crestfallen face and the tears in her eyes. "Mom, that book was sad. That boy was mean." As we read it I could tell we were both waiting for the boy to redeem himself, to show his gratitude to the tree and he never did. Does this mean we have to have happy endings? No...I just don't really understand what the book is trying to convey. That love is about letting someone take advantage of you, that if you really love someone you just keep giving and giving no matter how poorly they treat you in return? That if you love someone you sacrifice every little part of yourself until you have nothing left to give, and then you should be content that they deign to grace you with their presence when they are old and lonely and miserable? No thanks...I want more for my children from their relationships than that. Nor do I want to send the message that denying them any of their wants or expecting them to make their own way in the world means I don't love them unconditionally.
I teach my children the positives of being a loving giving person...I feel no need to instill them with guilt and sadness over not being one.
I did learn one valuable lesson from this book...no matter how many people sing its praises, don't read anything to your child without previewing it yourself first.
Book Review: A children's book which never loses its power
Summary: 5 Stars
The Giving Tree is a beautiful book about a tree who loves a little boy. In the beginning, the love the two share is enough to make them both happy. As the boy grows older, his needs change and the tree gives him everything in order to help him achieve happiness. When the boy is gone and the tree is left with nothing, she is happy, but not really. Eventually the boy returns and the tree has nothing left to give, but the boy has changed and no longer wants anything from the tree other than the companionship they once shared, and both are happy once again.I fell in love with this book the first time it was read to me, and my feelings have never changed. As I child I knew it was a sad book, but I didn't know why. Now that I am an adult, I can understand the cost of unconditional love and I know why the tree was sad. The fact that this book inspires so much debate is a testament to the power of Shel Silverstein's writing. There is a lesson in this book and a powerful message. For me, the key point is that in the end, the love the tree had for the boy was vindicated by his return- older, wiser, and more appreciative. My mother bought me this book when I was young because she thought it had a poignant lesson to teach. My mother tells me that the tree is every mother, and that the sadness felt by the tree is the sadness every mother feels when her child grows up and grows apart. She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to to sit together in silence and to be happy. Anyone who has ever loved someone enough to let them go will understand the painful choice highlighted in The Giving Tree.
I love this book and I give it to special people in my life to celebrate our friendship. I higly recommend this book to adult and child alike.
Book Review: A different way to look at this story
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my favorite books to give to expectant mommys with a verse on the inside that says
"The heart of a mother
is a deep abyss
at the bottom of which
you will always find
forgiveness. "
Honore de Balzac
I read the book like this..
The tree gives and gives, till there is not much left of her to give to the boy that she loves so much. Yes the boy takes and takes and takes and never once says thank you.
In the begining the boy AND the tree are happy. The boy runs and plays and has a grand old time. He also isn't asking for anything more than an apple for a snack, a few fallen leaves, and the shade the tree provides.
The older he gets, the more he asks for, and with each thing he asks for the more and more unhappy he becomes. He was still a jubilent boy when he asked for the money. When he comes back wanting a boat, we can see that life has not been good for the boy. He is no longer happy. By the time he returns for the last time, he is a broken old man, who has nothing but a stump of a tree to keep him company. This whole time, the tree has given of herself freely. Never asking for anything in return, and always excited when the one she loved so came to visit.
I think the moral of the story is more along the lines of this.
Through out the story the tree is happy, happy to give her apples, and even more happy when the boy returns to sit upon her.
The boy, however, starts out happy as a child playing and jumping, and finally ends up a tired, unhappy, broken old man.
So being the one who gives freely and happily, even if it's not appreciated, is always better than being the taker, who ends up alone and unhappy.