Product Description

'Once there was a tree...and she loved a little boy.'

So begins a story of unforgettable perception, beautifully written and illustrated by the gifted and versatile Shel Silverstein.

Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches, or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree, and the tree gave and gave and gave.

This is a tender story, touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.

Ages 10+

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #649 in Books
• Published on: 1992-10-07
• Released on: 1964-10-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Amazon.com Review
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

About the Author

Shel Silverstein combined his unique imagination and bold brand of humor for his first poetry collection—the only one he illustrated in full color. Now available again after three decades, don't bump the glump! and Other Fantasies was originally published in 1964, the same year as his most famous picture book, the giving tree.

Customer Reviews

A little story with a big heart...
It's amazing how a book, barely a hundred in pages, could quickly and intensely impart so much sadness and despair, and with something so simple and as complicated as unconditional love.

Sure, a number of readers have probably thought that the tree was nothing but a big sop, a martyr blind to the selfishness and capricious whims of a child, but shouldn't the object of our unceasing wonder be the always unpredictable capacity of one's sacrifice for love? Beyond what a tree could give, imagine what a person would be willing to go through. Tragic, true--but that is what also makes us human.

One of the Best Children's Books Ever Written
In 1974, I gave this to my then seven-year-old son for Christmas - a time for "Giving." I let several days pass and then asked him if he had read the book. He had, so I asked him if he liked it. He said he did, so I asked him what he liked about it. He told me he was glad the tree was still there enough for the man to sit on because the man needed a good friend. Out of the mouths of babes, I thought. I remember stroking his head and saying, "You're right, he did. I'm glad, too, that he had such a good friend to whom to return." It was his observation that made me realize the tree wasn't left anything, but instead, as it used up its life in good deeds, it remained just as useful as a stump to sit on as it did when it was a full tree. Socrates observed that "The unexamined life is not worth living." Upon examination of my own life, I have found what makes it most worth living is being useful to others. My son is now 38 and has always been generous of spirit and deed. He still has this book with my Christmas inscription, "To the best son a mom could hope for" written on the inside cover, and his three children have read it. I've never "told" my son what is right or wrong. I preferred using the Socratic method of asking questions that provoked him to think more deeply and far beyond the tip of his nose. That's what this book does, and does brilliantly.

This book a must.
I bought this for my granddaughters after they lost all their books in a flood this summer. I am trying to rebuild their library. It is a wonderful classic book and comes with an audio CD of Shel Silverstein reading it. Definitely a must for any child's library.