A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return, in an anniversary edition of the classic book packaged with a CD read by the late author.
Shel Silverstein writes and draws an intriguingly ambiguous classic, the meaning of which will probably always be debated. THE GIVING TREE tells the tale of a young boy and the tree who, literally piece by piece, gives her life for him. Throughout the story, the tree (which is referred to by female pronouns) never hesitates to give the boy whatever he asks of her. At first she provides shade, then her fruit for him to sell, next her branches as lumber for his house, and finally her entire trunk for him to fashion into a boat. Now the tree has been cut down to a stump right at the point he'd carved a heart and their initials, "M.E. T.," when he was child. "And then the tree was happy...but not really." By the story's end, the little boy is an old man who, after many years away, returns to the tree to use her last remaining piece--her stump--as a place to sit and rest. "And the tree was happy." Illustrated with Silverstein's signature black-and-white line drawings.
- Genre: Juvenile Fiction
- Subgenre: Classics, Love + Romance, Social Issues / Emotions + Feelings, General, Nature + the Natural World / General
- Age: 4-8 years
- Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
- Language: English
- Format: hardcover
- Release Date: June 1, 1964
- Date Published: June 1, 1964
- Author: Shel Silverstein