The Giving Tree...Shel Silverstein and My 1000th Review

Author's Rating:

Pros: *Beautiful meaningful book!

Cons: *Not a one!

The Bottom Line: 
The Giving Tree is a very enjoyable book of life and love and the perfect book for my 1,000th review!

Author's Review

Every once in a while I’m reminded of a book that I’ve enjoyed in the past, but have forgotten about. The other day my husband Michael brought home a book that is a true a book of unconditional love.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein is a simple short book that says so much.

While this is a review of this beautiful book it also serves as a way to share my feelings about love, parenthood, childhood and God. In trying to decide what to write my 1,000 review of, I decided that the warm loving message of this book was perfect to help celebrate a milestone.

One of the things I love about this book is the simplicity of the illustrations. The cover is in color and we see the green tree and the boy in this story in full color but after this all of the illustrations inside of the book are simple black line drawings with no color. Now sometimes I know this could be rather boring but the way Mr. Silverstein does these drawings I find them captivating. The two characters in this book, a boy and a tree, are just the outlines with a small embellishment here and there. The background is the white of the page and details are very limited. A minimal amount of drawings on each page, and yet each page is full of interest and meaning.

In this book a boy, who is called Boy throughout the story, loves a tree. The two share good times together playing hide and go seek and Boy enjoys eating the apples from the tree and climbing up its big trunk and branches. The shade that Tree gives is great for laying down and resting and Tree is happy to be able to give so much to Boy.

As Boy grew older his visits to Tree became fewer and fewer and it seemed whenever he did visit he wanted something from the tree. He took apples to sell and make money, he took Tree’s branches to build a house and even cut down the trunk of Tree to make a boat and sail away. All of these things Tree gladly gave in order to make the boy happy.

In the end, when Boy was old, he came back to Tree who was nothing more than a stump and the two sat with each other….happy.


My Feelings

I love that this book can have different meanings to different people, or even different meanings to me at different times.

The way Tree takes care of Boy giving everything she could reminds me how as a parent giving everything to a child feels natural and normal. Not in a materialistic way, but in unconditionally loving your child from the moment of conception until my last breath is taken. I have four living children and would give everything that I am for their happiness. I think this is what Tree did for Boy and while at times Boy seemed ungrateful and selfish he eventually came back to Tree and accepted the limited gift that Tree had to offer.

I also see this book as a metaphor for the aging process. At one point Tree was strong and full of life but as Boy took more and more from her she eventually had just a small part of herself left but even in all that she lost she stood proud and did all that she could do to be a part of life and of giving. As I age I see how the changes that we endure as we get older sometimes make us feel diminished and yet we still have so much left to give. I think of my Mom who died at 82 and although she could no longer walk she was as giving as she could be in her situation and never let me forget that I was loved by her. What a beautiful gift she was right up to the day she died and beyond.

This book also makes me think of our Heavenly Father’s love for us. Like Tree He stands and waits for us to come to Him. He is patient in our demands and continues giving to us. He gives and gives but still delights in our happiness, even when we are being a bit selfish and self-serving. He is strong and steady and always there for us.

I did read this book to my daycare children and while they listened and seemed to enjoy this book I don’t think it is one that they will request often. 7 year old Sammi seemed to enjoy it the most and did feel that Boy was wrong to keep taking from Tree. She was happy too when Boy came back to Tree and just sat on her stump.

Although this book is recommended for children 4 – 8 years old I recommend this book for ages 5 or 6 and up and do think that adults particularly will appreciate all that it says and the gentle way it gives its message of love and devotion.

HarperCollins Publishers published this 64 page book in 1964.

ISBN: 0060256656

I want to say a big Thank You to all who have read my reviews and those who have given me their trust as well. What was once just a site where I occasionally wrote a review or two has become a very important part of my life and provides me with hours of reading entertainment as well as stretching my mind as I write about the books and products that I use in my everyday life.

Well, off to write #1001!