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The Giving Tree | 
 enlarge | Creator: Shel Silverstein
Publisher: HarperCollins
Category: Book
List Price: $16.99
Buy Used: $2.97
You Save: $14.02 (83%)
New (74) Collectible (10) from $7.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  604 reviews
Sales Rank: 691
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 64
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 7.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0060256656
UPC: 000060256652
EAN: 9780060256654
ASIN: 0060256656
Publication Date: October 7, 1992
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Writing Present Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4,000,000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1,000,000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today!
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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
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+
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| Customer Reviews: Read 599 more reviews...
 Its a great book, with a great philosophy. Read between the lines. October 1, 2008
The moral of the story is touching, its a great gift to give a parent.
Embarassing Parenthood September 30, 2008
I just read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein for the first time. Now, I do remember having the book read to me at the public library when I was little, and I am pretty sure it was featured in Reading Rainbow, so the story is not new to me. However, since this is the first time I ever read the story on the other side of parenthood, I was surprised by my overwhelming emotional reaction to the book. I read it as a bedtime story to my two lovely girls and I wept for the brief interval of time where I can help form them as young Christian ladies.
More surprising to me than my emotional response, was how I understand the Tree much better now. As a child, I guess I pitied the tree and sympathized with the boy. I simply expected that the Tree enjoyed helping the boy so the Tree was happy. Now I know that the Tree did enjoy helping the boy, but that the Tree suffered as the boy grew since the boy grew further away. I guess The Giving Tree taught me the lesson of love which I only absorb intellectually from the tree of the cross. Successful love, like successful parenting, involves suffering. The better I do my job of raising my daughters into mature, independent ladies, the more I will miss these years of providing everything for them.
Reprinted with permission from http://naturalfamilylife.blogspot.com
A boy and a tree? September 27, 2008
Really, I believe this is a fantastic piece of work and a tribute to the genius that is Shel Silverstien. But I also always have to wonder about the ambiguous message of the story and is truly meant. There is so much contraction. Clearly the tree represents love, but she completely gives of herself entirely for so little. The debate is indeed the charm, though.
classic book to share with your children September 20, 2008
i bought this as a gift for a friend of mine who is always the person giving everything they have to others, it is a great story and if you havent read it, please do, it is truly wonderful
A Changing Lesson for EVERY Age August 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Every child and adult should have this book.
There are many controversies about The Giving Tree, many will write that it is a self-less act of love, an issue with co-dependency, or may even send a bad example of relationships with creating selfish children/adults.
I think one of the greatest things about this story is that you can interpret it differently at evolving life stages.
From a child who sees a self-less act of love to an adult who has been in a troubled relationship (much like the tree and the boy).
Regardless, I believe that this story clearly shows 2 sides of A relationship, and if the the reader feels bad for the tree - it is a way to learn how to appreciate and recognize such unconditional love. To always be thankful.
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