Book Blog #9 on "The Giving Tree"

Title: The Giving Tree

Author: Shel Silverstein

Illustrator: Shel Silverstein

Publisher: Harper & Row

Copyright: 1964

Number of Pages: 64

Genre: Poetry

Grade Level: 3rd

Content Area: Science

This story is about a tree’s love for a boy. The boy visits the tree every day to gather leaves, climb, swing from her branches, eat her apples, play hide-and-seek, and rest against her trunk. The boy loves the tree and so the tree is happy. The boy gets older and doesn’t visit as much. He visits rarely throughout the rest of his life, but never wants to play. At one point, he wanted money, so the tree offered him her apples to sell. He does and she is happy again. The next time he wants a house, so the tree offered him her branches to build a house. He does this also and she is happy again. He visits the next time when he is an older man and says he wants a boat to travel far away. She tells him to cut down her trunk and make a boat, so he does but this time the tree is not as happy. The last time he visits he is an elderly man and the tree is upset because she has nothing left to give him. This time the old man says all he needs is a quiet place to sit down and rest, so she proudly offers her stump. The boy sits down to rest and the tree is happy again. I think this story is very sweet and cute for kids. The illustrations aren’t very vivid or colorful, but I think they illustrate the story very well. I would read this story to the students and then bring in science by talking about trees.