Guide Note

The Giving Tree is a children's book about the relationship between a tree and a boy.

Fast Facts

1. Author: Shel Silverstein
2. Genre: children
3. Publication Date: 1964
4. Publisher: HarperCollins
5. Pages: 64
6. ISBN: 9780060256654
7. Has been translated into over 30 languages

The Giving Tree follows a friendship between a growing boy and a tree. The story begins as the tree is full grown and healthy and the boy is very young. The tree provides the child with shade, apples and a branch to hang a swing on. As the boy gets older he asks more of the tree and is never turned down. Eventually the boy, who has now become a man, cuts the tree down in order to make a boat. To which the tree does not protest. Many years later, the man returns old and whithered to the tree, which has nothing left but a stump. The man requests that he be allowed to sit and rest on the stump while he waits for his death, the tree once again, happily gives him what is requested.

The Giving Tree is widely considered to be a classic children's book but there is much debate over it's interpreation. Some view the boy as a selfish predator, using the tree to death. Others see the relationship as that of a parent and son, where both the tree and the child's actions are reasonable.