Rating: 
Summary: An Old Favorite
Review: I can't even count the number of times I've read this book, but this year teaching a 7th grade language arts class, I found myself reading this book to the class and then assigning the students to write an essay about it. Most of the students were familiar with this book but despite that all we eager to revisit the story of a tree and a boy. Once again we found ourselves loving every word and page and it reminded is of some valuable lessons which included friendship, loyalty, giving, receiving and most of all about love.As a young boy, boy loves to pay with a neighborhood tree. Boy swings on the branches, climbs the tree's branches, plays hide and seek and often naps under the limbs. But as boy gets older, he abandons the three although the tree never abandons the boy and misses him terribly. At various times boy returns asking the tree for something to sell, something to use as a boat and finally as an old man boy learns that the tree has given him almost everything it has to offer, it still has one more thing to give to him. I found that this was a wonderful book to discuss with my class and elicited not only good conversation but wonderful essays where the students were able to relate their own stories about giving and receiving. It is always a special treat to revisit some old favorite titles. And this time was no different than other times when I read The Giving Tree as an adult. As in the past I realized how delightful it is to find a book which can and always will appeal to me no matter how old I am in years.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book for all Ages!
Review: I've loved this book since I was a kid. The valuable message of selflessnes is a great reminder for kids and adults alike that there is so much more to life than just looking out for number one.
Rating:
Summary: A Book that Gives rather than Takes
Review: Liv Tyler in an interview mentioned that Giving Tree was one of her favourite books and when David Letterman asked Madonna on his show a few weeks ago to name a book that has inspired her, she said it was the Giving Tree. No matter where you stand on the social spectrum, this book has reached multitudes of people worldwide with its bittersweet tale of unconditional love. For those who have not had the pleasure yet, the Giving Tree plays a part not unlike the parts our parents play - in that no matter how many times we disappoint them; our parents will always love us unconditionally, and like the tree in the end, will even lay down their life for us. A perfect gift to give to the teenage daughter who finds herself unexpectantly pregnancy or to the wayward son, who need to be reminded every so often how much we love them. I have this on my bookshelf ready to be passed down to the next generation = make it yours!
Rating:
Summary: Sweet, sad story of unconditional love
Review: I read this book to my two year old son for the first time a few years ago. The obvious metaphor, that of the tree being a mother whose son is destined to leave her someday, struck me right off. I was tearing up about halfway through. What mother of any child -- male or female -- doesn't secretly dread that far-off event, even while it signals a positive step in the natural order of things? That's a universal theme and part of nearly everybody's life at one time. So maybe it's a little manipulative on that level. After I was done reading my boy bounced up and went into our back yard to play. In passing he actually stopped and hugged the big old pepper tree! At that point I realized a new metaphor for this story, and a deeper level of meaning to it that had touched me as well. You see, the tree also represents God. He loves us from the beginning of our lives and nurtures us with wholesome gifts (represented here by apples and leaves) and we accept this with joy that gives His love right back. Children have that universally satisfying relationship with God even while they may have no name for it. They are able to simply enjoy the truly important things in a way adults have trouble with. You'll notice that when the boy gets a little older he spends less and less time with the Tree. His growing up signals the start of worldliness and materialism. He comes back as a teenager and asks for money. Then he comes back and asks for a house, and later a boat. The things of the world never truly satisfy him the way fellowship with the Tree did earlier, but it takes a while to realize this. In the end, he recognizes the truth and comes back to the only source of true love and peace he ever really had, and can accept the simple pleasure of sitting with the Tree once again. In the same way, we get distracted by worldly concerns and materialism as adults and tend to stray from God, only to realize after the best years of our life are spent that we should have spent more of them with Him. God's selfless, unconditional love for His children (and the generally ungrateful attitude we throw right back most of the time) is so poignantly portrayed by this metaphor of the Giving Tree that I think it's better than any metaphor I've found in the bible! In the deepest sense, my tears were in recognition of my own ingratitude and selfishness as contrasted by the love of God. For one small minute, I was able to see the human condition from His perspective and weep for it. That was precious to me, and something I will always have Silverstein to thank for. I can understand the interpretations of The Giving Tree from an environmental perspective and from a feminist perspective as well, and understand why so many people object to it. Truthfully, we don't really know which of these many messages Shel Silverstein intended, or if he even believed in God or not. But God does work in mysterious ways, and I truly believe He used Shel's work to send a message of His own to those of us who can receive it.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle
Rating:
Summary: How Not to Get It
Review: This is a response to the general theme of the disparaging reviews. Those who think well of the book might wish to skip to the next review. You already get it.
I first read The Giving Tree as an eight- or nine-year-old. I was an above-average reader (interpretation) for my age, but by no means a prodigy. Yet, I like to think I took from it what the author intended. Or at least, what the author intended for a child to take from it.
I found the book impacting. I remember well what I felt: vaguely sad and bothered. Not terrible. Not depressed. Not traumatized or otherwise in need of a child psychologist. But briefly troubled, enough to think. (I know. The last thing we want children tricked into doing. How cruel.) Yes, in The Giving Tree, the tree gives too much in response to the lifelong needs of the human. But the book is written such that the reader develops sympathy for the tree's loss. You can't help but feel for the tree, the emotional perspective Mr. Silverstein deftly cultivates. And through those feelings, the book's lessons reveal themselves.
In simpler terms, thematically speaking, when I read this book as a child I thought, "Wait. This person isn't considering the tree's well-being at all. By accepting from the tree everything it can give him, he's depriving the tree of everything it has. Still, the tree feels good about itself. The lessons of the tree. It's good to give. It can be the right thing to do. And if the tree can give *everything* and be made happy by that, then certainly I can give some more and not feel as though I'm giving too much. The lessons of the boy/man. At the same time, be careful with others' generosity. Don't take advantage of people; that can have hurtful consequences for them. That's so clear from the way the tree is affected by the man's continued acceptance of whatever the tree can offer."
Of course, the above is better constructed than my thinking at eight or nine. But I'm not fooling myself or otherwise misremembering. The story instilled these feelings in me, very much as described. I talked to my Mother about these thoughts, book still in diminutive hand. Agreed, there are other levels of irony in this story. But they in no way detract from the tale's benefits for a child, based on themes almost any child can perceive.
Don't assume children are so simple. In a story, children can learn from more than the direct example of characters' behavior. There is no reason to assume any child would see either the man's or the tree's behaviors as exact examples to follow. (Especially so for the man, as Mr. Silverstein isn't sympathetic to the man's behavior in his story's telling. The story is told from the perspective of the tree, and its loss is clear as crystal.) Consider, a complaint even of many reviewers who rail against the book is that reading it made their children feel sad. But if they felt *sad*, isn't it clear they understood that the man's taking behavior, and the tree's excessive generosity, weren't positive in nature? Isn't that precisely what your child finds sad about the book? You see, he or she *gets it* -- hence, the sadness.
As men go, I imagine I'm middle-of-the-road in sensitivity, and presumably was about the same growing up. I wasn't a child gifted with unusual insight into human nature, nor did I have a special ability to discern hidden truths in writing. Probably still true, I'm sorry to say.
No, there are different reasons I drew the lessons above, the reasons most children would (at varying levels of immediate awareness). The Giving Tree is a book of uncommon benevolence and wisdom, written and illustrated with artful subtlety and emotion.
Far more than most among books for all ages, with a positive message, a book that reaches the head through the heart.
/\/\
Rating:
Summary: classic
Review: Silverstein's The Giving Tree is one of those timeless classics that you read and loved as a kid, and have found that you still love to read it thirty years later. It's a simple story of unconditional love and friendship. Truly it is about family. And the simple, elegant line drawings are perfect for this story. Every child--every adult should own a copy of this book.
Rating:
Summary: enviromentalism
Review: this is a book about the damage that man is doing to the environment. it is not about a tree that gives to us freely - it is about how we strip nature of its resources and soon will be left without enough to sustain our population on this planet.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Childrens Book I've Ever Read
Review: I am mystified as to how anyone could actually like this book, or read it intentionally to their children. It is truly awful. If you're interested in teaching your children life lessons using horrible, depressing examples, this book is for you. A selfish individual abuses and exploits an unselfish individual to death, then relaxes by sitting on her corpse. I would love to hear a psychologists take on the anger, resentment and passive aggression simmering beneath the surface of this ugly tale. There are many positive ways to teach your children about the value of gratitude. This is not one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Not really a "children's book"
Review: The giving tree is about a boy who loves a tree and a tree who loves a boy. It is a portrait of how through the timeline of our lives we want different things. As the boy grows he looses his desire to play (it seems he looses his love for the tree as well)Yet the tree continues to love the boy and continues to provide the boy with what he wants - apples to sell for money - wood to build a home etc.... This story may appeal to many parents, but children will totally miss the point.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad Life Lesson or Over-Amalyzing?
Review: The tree is portrayed as a female and gives everything to the little boy as he grows into a man with no thought of him giving back to her in some way. Basically, some have analyzed this is be male on female abuse. However, you can also look at it from a mother's perspective. The mother gives all she has, unconditionally for the most part, to her child. We wouldn't call that abuse. We call it Mother Nature and Mother Earth, so wouldn't it be fitting that the tree be gendered as female? And, for the most part, when this was written, it was "a man's world." Personally, I think this Shel Silverstein's little social commentary can be quite thought provoking for an adult and open up a dialect with a child about helping others. OR maybe we're over-analyzing. :c)
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