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Summary: I HATE this book
Review: It is a sad and disturbing view of the world in which a selfish horrid little boy grows to be a selfish horrid little man and takes and takes and takes and takes and abuses a weak-willed tree with no self-esteem to death. If anything it rationalizes and supports battered women staying with their scumbag abusers. Children's book...right. Shel had issues.
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Summary: A very touching book!
Review: I love this book. My friend's sister is an elementary school teacher and she recommanded this book to me. I cannot believe some people wrote negative review about this book. They tried to twist the true idea this book is trying to show us. This is a wonderful book about love, devotion and friendship. It really touches my heart.
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Summary: Simple and touching.
Review: This book will never get old. It is pure and simply the best and most touching book I've ever read. I picked it up at a book store for the first time in fifteen years and flew through it in about a minute and it was as good as I remembered, maybe even better now as I get older and the story gets sadder and sadder.The greatest children's book ever written (yeah, yeah, I like Where the Wild Things Are too, but that didn't make me cry).
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Summary: Touching, yes, but NOT a children's book!
Review: I am a big Shel Silverstein fan and I am an early childhood educator. I have found limited value of his work in the preschool classroom. His poems seem to be most successful when (well-selected, and) used with kindergarters, who can begin to appreciate the humor; older children can better relate to his irreverence. Silverstein's book, A Giraffe and a Half, has wonderful literacy-building value in its repetition and cumulative text structure that even preschoolers could really love...but it is too long for most 4-year-olds to sit through. The Giving Tree has a whole different flavor. The color, and cartoon illustration on the cover make it seem like a children's book, but the message from this story is beyond a young child's grasp. In Silverstein's tale, we follow the character, a boy, through his life from youth to old age, as he returns to his beloved tree over and over again, across the years, to request that the tree provide for him. I believe that this is more a cautionary tale about the human impact on the envirionment. It is a theme neither concrete nor relevant to young children's experiences.
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Summary: A profound children's book.
Review: This is a wonderful children's book (ages 4-8). The gentle benevolence of a tree is economically contrasted to the destructive self obsessions of a child. The child grows older but remains a foolish child insomuch as he is blinded by his restless selfishness. The lesson here will be obvious, or at least it should be: the ugly, insatiable desperation of self-focus as opposed to the gracious beauty of love and selflessness. Silverstein presents an important and compelling counterpoint to the me-ism, consumerism and self obsessiveness that naturally appeal to children, especially in affluent cultures, and which many children can never escape even in small measure. A tree is the perfect allegory for this lesson. If you only read a half dozen books to your child, this should be one of them. Adults would do well to contemplate this story as well. Very, very highly recommended.
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Summary: The Giving Tree
Review: Every day, the boy would come to the tree and gather her leaves, or play in her branches, or sleep in her shade. The tree loved the boy and the boy loved the tree. At first, this was all each one needed to be happy. But as the boy grew older, he began to want other things and he forgot about the tree. One day the boy came back and asked the tree for money. The tree, wanting the4 boy to be happy, tells him to gather her apples and sell them in the city. The boy does as he is told, and goes away for a long time. Twice more he comes to the tree after being away and asks for something. Each time, the tree gives what the boy asks for, until she is no more than a stump. Even an old stump is good for something though.
This is a wonderful story about the friendship between a boy and a tree, and the sacrifices one must make to keep the other happy. The joy that the tree finds from giving serves as a great example for people of all ages. The story has a touch of sadness to it, but there is something uplifting about it, too. Clever illustrations make it a very enjoyable read.
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Summary: This is Essential Reading For Fans Of Children's Literature
Review: The Giving Tree, written by Shel Silverstein, is a controversial story for children. People either hate or love it. Like The Little Prince, The Giving Tree ultimately delivers a message which is both moving and profound. The illustrations, rendered in simple black and white line drawings, tell the story of a tree and the little boy who comes to visit her every day. As the story progresses the boy grows into a selfish adult who does nothing but take from the tree. He takes and takes until nothing is left of her but a stump. Finally one day the boy returns as a beaten down old man with no place left to go. The tree, always happy to see him, offers the old man the only thing she has left. She offers her stump for him to rest on. The Giving Tree is a powerful metaphor for the unconditional love parents and children share. Frustrating, sad, and ultimately beautiful, this is a story no child should miss reading. Preston McClear, author The Boy Under the Bed
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Summary: Well Written But Terribly Depressing
Review: The author makes a great point about the selflessness of the tree, but it also highlights the digusting nature of humanity - how it sucks the life out of nature. Even though I found the illustrations and narration beautiful, the sad story made me depressed for days. But if you like stories like this, try reading "Love You Forever". Leaves a lump in your throat.
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Summary: This is another book that all children should hear
Review: My Degree is in Early Childhood Education. I have five grown children that I bought this book for and once again my now seven year old got it as a hand-me-down at the age of two. It is like a parent's love for their child. They cling when they are young, move onto lives of their own, as it should be.They return at moments of their lives, and they move onto the next stage. The parent is always there for them to share whatever they can to help with the next stage, but miss their children a great deal while they are gone.Life moves on for both as the years go by. And as time goes by the parent has less and less to give,but hopefully we will live long enough to see our children grow up, see we did all we could as parents and that we have some time left to spend with our children. Children do not come into the world to satisfy our needs, and children just love this book, not knowing that,at least to me, it is a story of the life stages.My seven year old did get a new copy of the book, because the older one had been read so many times, by request of my other children, that still know the story because they loved it so much.All six children felt compassion for the tree, something that some people never feel. We all know the world could use a lot more compassion for their fellowman, an animal, themselves, the ability to have the feelings of compassion. Mrs. Symmington
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Summary: From a Jewish Educator's Perspective -A Tu Bishvat Must Read
Review: "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.
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