The Giving Tree

published	1964 by HarperCollins
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0060256656 (isbn13: 9780060256654)
pages	64
description	To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement. In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple l...more [close] To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement. In Shel Silverstein's popular tale of few words and simple line drawings, a tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs. When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump so he can craft a boat out of her trunk. He unthinkingly does it. At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a pathetic solitary stump, poignantly cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. + T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really." When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services, and he sits on it. "And the tree was happy." While the message of this book is unclear (Take and take and take? Give and give and give? Complete self-sacrifice is good? Complete self-sacrifice is infinitely sad?), Silverstein has perhaps deliberately left the book open to interpretation. (All ages) --Karin Snelson
date added	03-18-07 edit book

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Sad, sad, sad	5	04/11/2008 02:08PM
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David rated it:

02/24/08

Okay, this is some motherfucking fucked-up shit right here. The Giving Tree is the straight-up wack story of how this selfish little ass-faced prick kicks it with this full-on saintly tree. Everything's fine for a while, with the lil' prick all getting up in there and saying to the tree, "Yeah, you know you my bitch," but then all of a sudden, this jumped-up prick goes through puberty, gets his chia on or some such shit, and so he's off screwing the skank-ass bitches on the block all d...more Okay, this is some motherfucking fucked-up shit right here. The Giving Tree is the straight-up wack story of how this selfish little ass-faced prick kicks it with this full-on saintly tree. Everything's fine for a while, with the lil' prick all getting up in there and saying to the tree, "Yeah, you know you my bitch," but then all of a sudden, this jumped-up prick goes through puberty, gets his chia on or some such shit, and so he's off screwing the skank-ass bitches on the block all damn day and can't spare one motherfucking minute for this poor old tree who is waiting for him and is looking all motherfucking sad and droopy. So this little punk-ass bitch comes up to the tree--this is a motherfucking tree, hear?--and asks her [it's a sexy-ass lady-tree] for some g's. Well, the tree is all, like, "I ain't got no cash, bitch. What part of me says ATM on it?" And she should have held up there, but--no--this tree gets all fucking benevolent and is like, "Well, I've got mad apples you can go hustle on the streets." So this ass-faced prick just, like, boosts all these damn apples and leaves this tree with, like, its weave all out and shit. So next, after working the streets with his crew, little bitch boy comes back, looking all old and jacked-up, and asks the motherfucking tree for a goddamn crib. So the tree's like, "Hol' up. Do you see Coldwell Banker all up and down in here? I think not." But then, being all kindly and shit, the tree is like, "But I got mad branches..." And what? She motherfucking takes it in back for this fool again. Later, another goddamn time, punk-ass bitch comes back, looking all old and saggy and wack now, and he's like, "Bitch, what you got for me now?" "Awww, hell no," tree says, but then she starts getting all soft and shit again and says, "Why don't you cut down my trunk or some such shit and go 'head and whittle a pimped-out yacht, full-on Hamptons-style?" He's like, "Yeah, I thought so, bitch." And then--guess the fuck what?--little shriveled up, played-out mack comes on back wit his ass all hemorrhoided and shit. He look nasty and old. Tree is like, "I know that you ain't come to ask me. All's I am is a motherfucking stump, motherfucker. How you gonna come back at me like that?" This punk-ass bitch is all drooling and jacked-up and just wants to sit the hell down. What does motherfucking tree do? Says, "Hell no! You motherfucking fucker get your motherfucking ass face out of here 'fore I cut you up good: give you some mad tree fungus, motherfucker!" The motherfucking end.

Okay, so that's not really the way The Giving Tree ends, but maybe it's the way it should. Some time ago, my ex-girlfriend and, afterward, long-time co-dependent friend gave me The Giving Tree as part of my birthday gift. I loved it, but I hated it, too, because I felt so bad for the tree who is endlessly shat upon by this worthless "Boy"--as he is always known, regardless of age; I longed to console the tree and, maybe a little, to condemn this book as yet another emotionally-scarring "children's" entertainment in the manner of Old Yeller. Don't give me any shit about learning valuable lessons. The only lesson I learned was that human beings are nothing but steaming piles of corn-freckled feces, and that I wanted to found a not-for-profit shelter for unloved trees and rabid dogs and any other nonhuman thing, living or not, which was either unwanted or despised.

Having said all this--and although I don't approve of the treatment of the giving tree--this book is very moving and very delicate. The delicacy is somewhat counteracted when the reader turns over the book and sees the author photograph of a thoroughly evil-looking Shel Silverstein. He looks like the sort of person who would burn down whole forests of rare giving trees just for kicks. Picture Othello just before he strangles Desdemona.

If you--and, yes, I'm talking to you personally--are not moved by the plight of the tree after reading this book, then perhaps it's time to check yourself: are you the giving tree or are you the motherfucking taking tree? Or are you the sneak-out-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-steal-all-my-shit tree?...less

Like this review? yes (56 people liked it)

35 comments

Mer rated it:

04/28/07

bookshelves: alltimefavorites, childhood, nostalgia, seminal

Read in January, 1980

recommends it for: enviornmentalists, nurturers, parents and children who want to discuss empathy and reciprocity

Scrolling down, it seems several reviewers resent this book's apparently heavy-handed message about selfishness/selflessness. I can totally understand why they find it upsetting or sappy. Overbearing, even. But I don't agree.

Some fascinating theories have been put forth about The Giving Tree. It's deceptively simple on its surface, yes. But if this were truly just some hard and fast hippie dippy morality tale, would its two main characters (living natural tree, growing human boy) and ...more Scrolling down, it seems several reviewers resent this book's apparently heavy-handed message about selfishness/selflessness. I can totally understand why they find it upsetting or sappy. Overbearing, even. But I don't agree.

Some fascinating theories have been put forth about The Giving Tree. It's deceptively simple on its surface, yes. But if this were truly just some hard and fast hippie dippy morality tale, would its two main characters (living natural tree, growing human boy) and their relationship have weathered such extensive interpretation over the years?

Professor Timothy Jackson from Stanford University (found on Wiki):

Is this a sad tale? Well, it is sad in the same way that life is sad. We are all needy, and, if we are lucky and any good, we grow old using others and getting used up... Our finitude is not something to be regretted or despised, however; it is what makes giving (and receiving) possible. The more you blame the boy, the more you have to fault human existence. The more you blame the tree, the more you have to fault the very idea of parenting. Should the tree's giving be contingent on the boy's gratitude? If it were, if fathers and mothers waited on reciprocity before caring for their young, then we would all be doomed.

An admirable assessment from a theologian... although as a wee grub, my perception was different. My own folks, secular humanist scientists who taught me a "recycle, reduce, reuse" mantra at around age four, introduced me to The Giving Tree around the same time we started reading The Lorax. (Another seminal doozy!) Perhaps due to their influence on my early development, I came away from both books with a lot of very heavy, persistent questions concerning humanity's careless attitude towards ye olde Mother Earth.

Without question, we're a species that generally takes and takes from the environment, thanklessly and thoughtlessly. Sadly this seems to be a trend that will continue until both we and the earth's resources are completely exhausted. (That is, unless we can all somehow convince ourselves AND our kids to turn it around.)

Ever notice that throughout the course of the tale, the little boy just "wants" things from the tree? Only at the very end of his life does he actually "need" something from her... a place to rest for a moment, to be at peace.

Anyhoo. Aspects of human behavior introduced to me in this book continue to flummox and obsess me in adulthood. Rereading it now only reinforces my lifelong desire to give something back to our weary but still beautiful mother earth, who seems to have no choice but to submit to our endless taking.

Silverstein fable is empathetic and open-ended. At its core, it reflects humanity's short-sighted, often lifelong inability to distinguish want from need, but it does not damn us for it. ...less

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Skylar rated it:

12/30/07

bookshelves: childrens

I was drawn to this book again and again as a child, and I discovered that my three-year-old daughter also wanted me to read it to her repeatedly. The book has given rise to numerous interpretations, and I myself have viewed it differently over time. Some people have a negative, visceral reaction to the book because they believe they are required to see it as a positive and uplifting tale of giving, something they cannot manage to do.

These days, we are accustomed to sanitized, upbeat childr...more I was drawn to this book again and again as a child, and I discovered that my three-year-old daughter also wanted me to read it to her repeatedly. The book has given rise to numerous interpretations, and I myself have viewed it differently over time. Some people have a negative, visceral reaction to the book because they believe they are required to see it as a positive and uplifting tale of giving, something they cannot manage to do.

These days, we are accustomed to sanitized, upbeat children's tales, but great children's literature has not always spared children the horrors of the world, and it has not always clearly stated its morals; more often, the morals are implied and are absorbed emotionally through the reading. We must not forget that Shel Silverstein was a biting satirist (consider such poems as "Almost Perfect But Not Quite.") It's just like Shel Silverstein to take the guise of a gentle little children's story to skewer the faults of humanity. Yes, "The Giving Tree" is a very disturbing book, but perhaps it's disturbing because it's _meant_ to be.

Many Christians (including myself initially) have thought of this as an allegory for Christ's sacrifice. I can certainly see why people think this is a Christian allegory: the tree, like Christ, gives itself entirely for the boy, even to the point of abject humiliation. If it is a Christian allegory, however, it is the disturbing tale of Christ's terrible, painful, continuous rejection by man, and _not_ the heart-warming tale of unconditional love and forgiveness many Christians take it to be. There is no repentance in "The Giving Tree," and therefore no real forgiveness.

Some take it as a tale of unconditional parental love, but if it is, it is again a painful tale: a tale of the child who never, his entire life, truly learns to appreciate his parents. Environmentalist read it as a tale of man's selfish exploitation of nature. Feminists regard it as a story of man's subjugation and abuse of woman and woman's failure to stand up for herself (the tree is a "she").

The fact that the book can speak to so many people on so many different levels is, I think, evidence of its subtlety and irony. It really can work on more than one level, if you _want_ it to. But we err, I think, if we assume this is a "sweet" and positive tale. It is sad, but this is almost cathartic, because life, too, is sad.

Few readers come to this book expecting the reality and complexity and vaguely drawn morals we get from the harsh Greek myths and the stark Bible stories and the creepy old fairy tales, which were the staples of past generations. Today we expect to encounter cleaned-up, upbeat, didactic stories where everyone learns his lesson: learns how to share or to tolerate or to be nice, a simplicity that is typical of so much children's literature today. But life does not always order itself according to neat storylines in which the bad guys suddenly become good by the third act.

Children's literature such as "The Giving Tree" plays a valuable role by helping children (and even the parents who read it to their children) to wrestle with the ugly, beautiful, and complex truths of the world. It helps children to begin processing, very early on, the powerful and often disturbing visceral emotions these truths awake. ...less

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Nathan rated it:

01/08/08

bookshelves: young-folks

Read in January, 1998

recommends it for: Psychologists?

I know that many people have a sentimental love for this book, and I respect that -- you can't rationalize emotional connection. And generally, I like this author. But with this book, since it inspired no real emotional response in me, I am left with only the rational perspective, which in me was this:

This book troubles me deeply, because it enshrines self-destructive and self-pitying martyrdom as the paragon of love for others. And I think there is already far too much of this in our so...more I know that many people have a sentimental love for this book, and I respect that -- you can't rationalize emotional connection. And generally, I like this author. But with this book, since it inspired no real emotional response in me, I am left with only the rational perspective, which in me was this:

This book troubles me deeply, because it enshrines self-destructive and self-pitying martyrdom as the paragon of love for others. And I think there is already far too much of this in our society. This book seems to say that if you really love someone else, you will damage yourself, cripple yourself, tear down your boundaries, destroy yourself for them. And further, it implies that those who are loved must by nature use and devour those who love them. An incredibly unhealthy model for love and relationships, especially for a child's book.

I am a parent of two, and though many parents have offered up this book as representative of the true nature of parental love, I cannot agree. If I were to raise my children this way, I feel I would only be teaching them to take selfishly from those who love them, to use people up and always expect more -- and on the flip side, I would be teaching them that if they love someone then they have to give of themselves until it hurts, have to live without boundaries of any kind.

Instead of raising my kids this way, I feel it's important to teach them to respect those who love them and care for them, to not take from others so much that it damages; I feel it's important to teach them that even in love we all must maintain our boundaries, our integrity. I feel it's important that my kids, and all kids really, understand that real, healthy love does not demand destruction or diminishment of anyone involved in it, that in fact real and healthy love ultimately heals and builds up those who participate in it.

I suppose that this book may have been intended as an anti-lesson, an example of how NOT to behave -- but if so, then it was not made clear that this was the case, because pretty much every I know who read this book took it as an ideal example of love.

Certainly it's possible to not take it so seriously; but when the underlying message and philosophy is so concentrated and heavy-handed, it's hard to avoid tasting it in every passage.

Overall: sweet, but to the point of being cloying, and a disturbing message. =/...less

Like this review? yes (6 people liked it)

2 comments

Tracy rated it:

02/24/08

bookshelves: children-young-adult

Update: 2.25.08: See message #19. Seriously. The show's over folks. There's nothing to see here, so just move along.
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I have no review for this book.

But David wrote a wickedly wonderful review of it and you can find his little masterpiece here... http://flubjub.blogspot.com/ where it is safe from the censorious Goodreads gods who nuked it twice, without warning. Tsk. I...more

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Jeremy rated it:

08/03/07

bookshelves: children, gift

The book is impossible to wrap my mind around. Part of me wishes it ended thusly: the tree suggests the boy chop her down to make a boat, he takes her advice, and the tree falls on him, killing them both. The moral being a quote I've heard attributed to Bill Cosby: If you spend your whole life trying to make other people happy, YOU'LL never be happy. The boy is punished for all but raping the one who cares more for him than anyone in the world, and the tree pays the ultimate price for a lifet...more

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Jon rated it:

12/31/07

My wife and I had a debate about this book:

VONNIE: I’m not sure at what age a person discovers the joy of giving. Maybe, for me, it was that first Christmas when I had saved up enough of my allowance to actually buy something for my parents. I remember the anticipation of watching them unwrap the gift and then the big smiles that spread across their faces as they said “Vonnie, you shouldn’t have.” I think The Giving Tree is really a story about parenthood, and the lengths to which mo...more

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Merrin rated it:

08/29/07

bookshelves: childrens-books, favorites

recommends it for: anyone

Reading the other reviews on this book, I'm really surprised that there's such a level of hatred for this book. But then I thought everyone else in the world loved my fourth grade teacher too. We have to grow up sometime.

I can't imagine not loving this book. I can imagine berating the attitude of the boy, of the tree, but I can't imagine not coming away from this book with a deeper understanding of human nature, of reciprocity, of a parent's love for a child and the nature of servanthood. ...more

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Cristine rated it:

03/29/08

Read in April, 1988

recommends it for: children to teach them to respect the earth and the people around them

I read this book over and over again as a young child. My grandmother had this book and every time I went to visit her I would read it over and over. Yes, The Giving Tree is a sad book, but that's the point. I never empathized with the boy in the story because there was no reason to, the main character of the book was it's title character the tree. Time and time again I would mourn the loss of the tree and the short-sighted antagonist the little boy who murders our peaceful and helpless heroine ...more

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Aaron rated it:

03/12/08

bookshelves: kids-books

Read in January, 1993

recommends it for: Nobody

Ok, I have a little bit different take on this book than many people. I'd never read it until I became a preschool teacher. I was going through a Shel Silverstein phase at the time (we used to read a different one of his poems each day in class) and so I got this book to read with the kids. (by the way, this was in probably my first or second year of teaching) It seemed like a really sweet book to me until one of the parents mentioned to me that they didn't like it. I was shocked! How in t...more

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Austin rated it:

03/07/08

recommended to Austin by: Almost Everyone
recommends it for: Everyone

Every child eventually discovers the perverted old man who wrote songs for Johnny Cash, did illustrations for Playboy, appeared on the Dr. Demento show numerous times, and managed to get a few books published along the way.

For some reason, parents never seem to think this creepy old guy who was so fond of children was in any way "disturbing," something I'm continually impressed with in the "ban now, ask questions later" climate of modern culture. If there are pe...more

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Laura rated it:

10/07/07

bookshelves: children

recommends it for: not terribly bright hippies

Easily the most vile children's book ever written, for reasons eloquently stated by about a zillion other posters here. I remember my grandmother, whom I disliked (yeah, some kids don't like their grandparents, it's true) used to push this book on me as terribly DEEP and BEAUTIFUL and something I should really THINK ABOUT. And you wonder why I didn't like my grandmother? (My mother thought it was a piece of shit, too.) Anyway, it's a vomitous book, always has been, and I'm glad there are other p...more

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Krystal rated it:

01/23/08

bookshelves: booksireadtomykids, childhoodstories

Since I alluded to this book during another review, I thought it fitting I actually review this one =)
This is such a beautiful story about friendship and selflessness, about love and acceptance. So many wonderful themes that I try and teach my children wrapped up into book form. I have cried over the book since my parents read this to me when I was little, so I can't blaim the tears on skewed hormones from birthin' my babies. My daughter likes to ask me occasionally to read the green book...more

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Chris rated it:

04/28/07

Is Silverstein, so of course the art is both charming and tragic, perfectly fitting for the little fable he presents.

That said, I have hated this story since the first time I read it as a young child. I love Shel, I hate the self-centered jerk of a kid and the pathetic, self-sacrificing tree. Unlike other people who have commented, I don't feel sorry for the tree, as it is never willing to stand up for itself and is always willing to just give and give and give without a single, sol...more

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Mary Beth rated it:

03/19/08

I need to amend my original review, I think, to clarify how I feel about this book.

Original review: "I realize everyone and their mother loves this book, it's a favorite from childhood, blah blah blah. In my opinion, what thanks did that kid ever give to the tree?! Take take take, that's all he did. Even when there was no tree left but a stump. Call me a grinch if you want, but true friendship is about give AND take. Selfish kid."

I believe as a story about friendship, this boo...more

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Rebecca rated it:

01/30/08

Read in January, 1980

recommended to Rebecca by: My mother
recommends it for: NOT children!

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Anngela rated it:

09/03/07

I love Shel Silversteins poetry, whether it is playful, silly, irreverent and a bit off or odd or digs a bit. So many friends have read The Giving Tree and love it as a tale of complete love and self sacrifice of the tree for the boy. However, I must have had a bit too much empathy for the tree or feeling used up, weary and sad when I read it as rather than find it an uplifting tale of sacrifice and love. I found it vaguely disturbing. I felt the boy behaved as if he's entitled to all that the t...more

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Flakita94 rated it:

04/13/08

The Giving Tree is about a boy who get to no a tree. First of all the tree gives the boy some shade for him to sit under. Then the boy is given an apple. The boy gets older and needs money. He goes to the giving tree and ask it for money. Although the tree doesn't have money, so it gives him his apples. The much older boy sells the apples and gets money. After that he comes back wanting a house. The tree cant give him a house, so it just gives him the branches it has for a house. The boy does h...more

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Benjermin rated it:

11/26/07

recommends it for: all human beings

Yes, the boy is a selfish bastard, who doesn't deserve the love and generosity he gets time and again. Anyone who read this book as a child is well aware of this fact.

Nonetheless, I'm shocked to see how many disliked it. My only thought is that many readers allow their hatred for the boy to be confused with hatred for the book. Does the book condone the boy's behavior, or simply seek to tell a narrative? Does the quality of a book suffer when the moral quality of its characters flags?

It ...more

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Siobhan rated it:

04/18/08

I don't think I have ever read a book that has pissed me off more then the giving tree.

I read this book when I was 6 maybe 7 and I have yet to forgive that little punk of a kid on the cover in his oh so innocent red overalls! I can still vividly remember my outrage upon first reading this book over how the kid just kept taking and taking from the poor, kind, senseless tree. That little money grubbing, self involved, brat, took everything until all that was left of his dear friend the tre...more

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