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

• 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

• Plot Synopsis

  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.

• Critical Reception

  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.

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