A book deserving of ten stars........

I mourned at the loss of Shel Silverstein, a brillant talent who died last year. It brought back memories of this book, "The Giving Tree" which was given to me when I was around five or so. As a grown woman, I can say without any hesitation, that this tender book still makes me cry to this very day. How such love can be expressed in the simplest of words and drawings is truly remarkable. I have given a copy of this book to all of my close friends and family who've had babies with a message to hold on to it for their children and to read and reflect upon it's message often. It is Shel's gift to the world.

Disturbing but Thought-Provoking

Although I dislike the story, I give the author credit for creating such a short book that has generated such a huge amount of discussion. Both environmentally and in terms of relationships, what goes on in this book is disturbing. Not only is the boy's ungrateful abuse of the tree unsettling, but the fact that the tree is a female being taken advantage of by a male has nothing good to say about either sex. The "boy" ages but never matures into a "man," and the tree tries too hard to be loved and does much more than she should to try to please the boy, who becomes increasingly ungrateful. Many of the reviewers here have pointed out that the book is about happiness, and perhaps it is, but is it about the boy's happiness or the tree's happiness? The boy loves the tree and is happy when he takes only things that do not harm the tree, such as fallen leaves and shade. The more he takes, the less happy he becomes. The tree is happy, no matter what she must give the boy, but she becomes less and less of a tree.

Beautiful Parable

This is a beauty parable for how nature gets destroyed providing for our needs and our wants. I am hoping this tells my son (who will be a environmentalist someday I hope) how important trees are for our sustenance. I wish the author had shown the man doing something to restore the apple tree to her glory at the end.