Did the Giving Tree win any awards? Shel Silverstein, author of The Giving Tree, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and Every Thing On It, Inside Out and Back Again, is a #1 New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book winner, and a National Book Award winner! Aside from that, why is the Giving Tree a prohibited book?
Who wrote the book The Giving Tree?
The Giving Tree is an American children's picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein.
What is the criticism of the Giving Tree?
Elizabeth Bird, writing for the School Library Journal, described The Giving Tree as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature". Criticism revolves about the depiction of the relationship between the boy and the tree.
Why did Shel Silverstein write the Giving Tree?
We don’t know what motivated Shel Silverstein to write “The Giving Tree.” In a rare interview, he said it was about “a relationship between two people; one gives and the other takes.” But we think it’s best read as a cautionary tale about love. Although the tree seems to take joy in giving to the boy, their relationship is entirely one-sided.
Who are the producers of the Giving Tree?
^ Bosustow, Nick, and Shel Silverstein (Producers); Hayward, Charlie O. (Director and Animator); Silverstein, Shel (Original Story, Music, and Narration) (1973). The Giving Tree (VHS). Chicago, IL: SVE & Churchill Media.
Reception
Interpretations
Criticism and controversy
How popular is The Giving Tree?
“The Giving Tree” ranks high on both “favorite” and “least favorite” lists of children's books, and is the subject of many online invectives.
What does the ending of Giving tree mean?
The tree gives its apples, its branches and eventually its trunk to the boy who has grown up “loving” the tree. For some people the tree provides an example of selfless love. For others, the tree models love which knows no boundaries and ends up destroying itself in an effort to give the boy all he wants.
Was The Giving Tree happy?
In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of herself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from her apples), a house (from her branches), and a boat (from her trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy."
Why was The Giving Tree special?
Answer: The tree is special in the giving tree because the tree gives us many things. We get all kinds fruits, flowers, vegetables, cottons, woods and many more things.
What is the moral of the story of The Giving Tree?
Not tallying things up is one hard lesson for us needy people to learn, but The Giving Tree teaches it so well. She gives and gives and gives, never expecting anything in return, never asking for her due, never REMINDING the Boy of all she has sacrificed.
Is The Giving Tree a rare book?
The Giving Tree (first edition, first printing) by Silverstein, Shel: Very Good Hardcover (1964) 1st Edition | Medium Rare Books.
Did the tree have money to give the boy?
The tree offered the boy to pluck all its apples, sell them in the market and earn money.
Who is the villain of The Giving Tree?
The Little BoyThe Little Boy is a minor villain in the Nostalgia Critic's review of the 2012 film, The Lorax. He's a parody of the nameless boy from the widely read Shel Silverstein book, The Giving Tree.
How much does The Giving Tree cost?
$13.26. Very Good: Cover and pages show some wear from reading and storage. Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout. To add the following enhancements to your purchase, choose a different seller.
Does The Giving Tree have a gender?
By Shel Silverstein In The Giving Tree, the main character is, well, a tree. But Shel Silverstein decides to refer to the tree with feminine pronouns: she, her, hers. And that, dear Shmoopers, stirs up all kinds of issues around gender.
What does the tree symbolize in The Giving Tree?
In The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein personifies the character of the tree to represent how wants and needs change over time. The first way the boy keeps coming back to his past is he keeps coming to the tree.
How did the tree help earn money?
How did the tree help the boy earn money? Ans. The tree asked the boy to pluck all its apples, sell them in the market and earn money.
What is the main message of The Giving Tree for Kids?
Giving, and making people that you love happy, can be more rewarding than receiving any gift. Self-Sacrifice The tree gives up a lot for the boy - her apples, branches and even her trunk. To make people that you love happy you may need to give something up which is important to you.
Why is The Giving Tree so sad?
When we see the aging boy's loss of his childhood happiness and the tree's longing to regain it, we encounter the loss intrinsic to life and long for the place where wholeness awaits. We are both the boy and the tree. Against this backdrop the tree's love gains its heft.
Is The Giving Tree a tragic hero?
The Giving Tree is maybe the first tragic hero example many of us ever read. The Tree's flaw is that it loves the boy more than itself. It gives and gives and gives different parts of itself over the years until there's nothing left but a stump in the ground.
What is the author's purpose in The Giving Tree?
The purpose of this story was to entertain people of all ages. Shel Silverstein wrote this story to show kids the gift of giving and to touch the readers with love, kindness, and sadness.
What is the rarest Little Golden Book?
Just Imagine: A Book of Fairyland Rhymes Published in 1990 by Guy Gilchrist, Just Imagine: A Book of Fairyland Rhymes is one of the most valuable Little Golden Books. Currently listed on eBay, the Little Golden Book has a price tag of $199.95 attached to it.
What is the rarest book to find?
The Oldest Books In The World Are Also The Rarest, Here They ArePtolemy's Geographia Cosmographia. ... The Gutenberg Bible. ... Bay Psalm Book. ... The ABC with the Pater noster, Aue, Credo, and . ... The Tales of Beedle the Bard. ... Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit. ... Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane and Other Poems.More items...•
What is the most valuable book in existence?
Leonardo da Vinci's "Codex Leicester," also known as the "Codex Hammer," is the most expensive book ever sold. The 72-page linen manuscript includes Leonardo's thoughts, theories and observations of the world, like the movement of water, fossils and the luminosity of the moon.
What was Shel Silverstein's message in The Giving Tree?
We don't know what motivated Shel Silverstein to write “The Giving Tree.” In a rare interview, he said it was about “a relationship between two people; one gives and the other takes.” But we think it's best read as a cautionary tale about love.
Why was the tree happy at the end?
Answer: In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of herself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from her apples), a house (from her branches), and a boat (from her trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy".
What is the main message of The Giving Tree for Kids?
Giving, and making people that you love happy, can be more rewarding than receiving any gift. Self-Sacrifice The tree gives up a lot for the boy - her apples, branches and even her trunk. To make people that you love happy you may need to give something up which is important to you.
What does the tree symbolize in The Giving Tree?
In The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein personifies the character of the tree to represent how wants and needs change over time. The first way the boy keeps coming back to his past is he keeps coming to the tree.
Neighborhood Service Leader Award
Become a Service Leader for your neighborhood by organizing a community service initiative. This opportunity is open to youth, ages 10 – 18.
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When was the Giving Tree published?
The Giving Tree was a surprise success. The Giving Tree received a small release in 1964 with just 5000 to 7500 copies printed for the first edition. Though its publisher clearly underestimated its potential popularity, it didn’t take long for the book to explode into a modern classic.
What is the giving tree?
The Giving Tree. Some readers remember The Giving Tree as a sweet picture book about the strength of unconditional love . To others, it was a heartbreaking tale that messed them up during story time. No matter your interpretation of the story, The Giving Tree is a children’s classic that helped make Shel Silverstein a household name—even ...
What did Silverstein say about the giving tree?
In case The Giving Tree doesn’t make it clear enough, Silverstein stated in an 1978 interview that he detests happy endings. He told The New York Times Book Review that he believed cheery conclusions “create an alienation” in young readers. He explained his stance further, saying "The child asks why I don't have this happiness thing you're telling me about, and comes to think when his joy stops that he has failed, that it won't come back." The Giving Tree features what is perhaps Silverstein’s best-known sad ending, if not one of the most infamous endings in children’s literature.
How many copies of The Giving Tree have been sold?
Today, nearly 55 years after it was first published, The Giving Tree has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. 3.
What is the relationship between a tree and a boy?
The Giving Tree centers on the relationship between a tree and a boy throughout the stages of his life—from his childhood to his elderly years. In each stage, the tree provides the boy with whatever he needs, ultimately giving him a stump to sit on when the tree has nothing else to give.
What is the author's photo on the back of the Giving Tree?
The author’s photograph on the back of The Giving Tree —depicting a bearded, bald-headed Silverstein glaring at the camera—has gained a reputation of its own. A Chicago Tribune writer called it “demonic” while a writer for NJ.com pointed out his “jagged menacing teeth.”.
Is the giving tree a children's book?
No matter your interpretation of the story, The Giving Tree is a children’s classic that helped make Shel Silverstein a household name—even if it took him a while to get there. 1. Multiple publishers rejected The Giving Tree. Shel Silverstein had only sold one children’s book— Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back —when he went about finding ...
What is the power of the giving tree?
Part of the power of “The Giving Tree” is experiencing the passage of time. Imagine the kind of lesson that would be. That’s a message we want to share with our children. Giving doesn’t have to be a sad act of sacrifice — something you have to do at your own expense.
What motivated Shel Silverstein to write The Giving Tree?
We don’t know what motivated Shel Silverstein to write “The Giving Tree.” In a rare interview, he said it was about “a relationship between two people; one gives and the other takes.” But we think it’s best read as a cautionary tale about love. Although the tree seems to take joy in giving to the boy, their relationship is entirely one-sided. The tree is perfectly happy to destroy herself under the guise of “love” for the boy. That’s not love; it’s abuse. Even an editor of the book, Phyllis Fogelman, felt that way. “I have had qualms about my part in the publication of ‘The Giving Tree,’ which conveys a message with which I don’t agree,” she said in an interview. “I think it is basically a book about a sadomasochistic relationship.”
Does Harry Potter reduce prejudice?
Research suggests that the role models in the stories we read to our children can have a lasting impact. Reading “Harry Potter” has been shown to reduce prejudice among elementary schoolers. And when children as young as 4 pretend to be strong-willed characters like Batman or Rapunzel, they focus better on boring tasks. A children’s book that implicitly endorses selfishness may lead to a world full of Gordon Gekkos believing that “greed is good.”
Who is Adam Grant?
Adam Grant and Allison Sweet Grant are the authors of a new children’s book on generosity, “ The Gift Inside the Box .”
Is the tree happy to destroy herself?
Although the tree seems to take joy in giving to the boy, their relationship is entirely one-sided. The tree is perfectly happy to destroy herself under the guise of “love” for the boy. That’s not love; it’s abuse. Even an editor of the book, Phyllis Fogelman, felt that way.
Is the Giving Tree a children's book?
If you ask parents to think of a children’s book about generosity, “The Giving Tree” is usually the first — and often the only — one they can name. But here’s the thing: It’s not really about generosity.
Is the giving tree selfish?
Of course parents make many sacrifices for their children, and they should. But the boy in “The Giving Tree” is completely selfish. He doesn’t just take from the tree; he does it in an ungrateful, thankless way. In each scene, we find out that taking from the tree makes the boy happy. No one shows disapproval for the boy’s behavior, let alone teaches him to respond to the tree’s plight with compassion or even a shred of decency. No, the boy shouldn’t have selfishly taken all of the tree’s apples, but moreover, the tree shouldn’t have let him. The tree has mastered the formula for raising a spoiled child.
Overview
The Giving Tree is an American children's picture book written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. First published in 1964 by Harper & Row, it has become one of Silverstein's best-known titles, and it has been translated into numerous languages.
This book has been described as "one of the most divisive books in children's l…
Background
Silverstein had difficulty finding a publisher for The Giving Tree. An editor at Simon & Schuster rejected the book's manuscript because he felt that it was "too sad" for children and "too simple" for adults. Tomi Ungerer encouraged Silverstein to approach Ursula Nordstrom, who was a publisher with Harper & Row.
An editor with Harper & Row stated that Silverstein had made the original illustrations "scratchy" …
Plot
The book follows the lives of an apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving" and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, a middle-aged man, and finally an elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life.
In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her bran…
Reception
Interest in the book increased by word of mouth; for example, in churches "it was hailed as a parable on the joys of giving." As of 2001, over 5 million copies of the book had been sold, placing it 14th on a list of hardcover "All-Time Bestselling Children's Books" from Publishers Weekly. By 2011, 8.5 million copies of the book had been sold.
In a 1999–2000, National Education Association online survey of children, among the "Kids' Top 1…
Interpretations
There are numerous interpretations of the book, including:
Ursula Nordstrom attributed the book's success partially to "Protestant ministers and Sunday-school teachers", who believed that the tree represents "the Christian ideal of unconditional love."
Some have interpreted the tree as Mother Nature and the boy represents humanity. The book has been used to teach children environmental ethics. An educational resource for children describe…
Criticism and controversy
Elizabeth Bird, writing for the School Library Journal, described The Giving Tree as "one of the most divisive books in children's literature". Criticism revolves about the depiction of the relationship between the boy and the tree.
Totally self-effacing, the 'mother' treats her 'son' as if he were a perpetual infant, while he behaves toward her as if he were frozen in time as an importunate ba…
Cultural influences and adaptations
A short animated film of the book, produced in 1973, featured Silverstein's narration.
Silverstein also wrote a song of the same name, which was performed by Bobby Bare and his family on his album Singin' in the Kitchen (1974).
Silverstein created an adult version of the story in a cartoon entitled "I Accept the Challenge." In the cartoon, a nude woman cuts off a nude man's arms and legs with scissors, then sits on his t…
Further reading
• Moriya, Keiko (1989). "A Developmental and Crosscultural Study on the Interpersonal Cognition of Swedish and Japanese Children". Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. 33 (3): 215–227. doi:10.1080/0031383890330304.
• Asplund Carlsson, Maj; Pramling, Ingrid; Wen, Qiufeng; Izumi, Chise (1996). "Understanding a Tale in Sweden, Japan and China". Early Child Development and Care. 120 (1): 17–28. doi:10.1080/0300443961200102.