The Gift Of Giving By Chocollette on - Updated Oct 15, 2011
The Giving Tree is an award winning children's book by Shel Silverstein. I grew up reading this book when I was a child and now I read it to my nine year old. He is profoundly deaf and I am not sure how many words he hears but he smiles as he sits in my lap when I read this to him and always turns the book to certain pages so he can touch them!
The Giving Tree has a simple message about the art and beauty of giving. It starts off with a little boy visiting the tree daily to devour apples, sliding down the tree's trunk, picking up leaves that the tree shed and when he does these things, the tree is happy and elated because it knows that the little boy is happy.
As the little boy gets older, he does not visit the tree as often and the tree gets very lonely. The boy decided to go to the tree and the tree wants him to pick the tree's apples and slide down its trunk. The lad tells the tree that he is too big to do those things anymore and that he wants to buy things instead. The tree then tells the boy to pick its apples & sell them and then he (the boy) will be happy. Seeing the boy do that made the tree feel happy and useful.
We see the boy grow up to be a very old man and his visits to the tree is more infrequent. He wanted to sail away in a boat to get away from things and the tree insists that he cuts the tree to use the wood to build a boat. How unselfish is that?!
A few more years pass by and the old man has everything that he could possibly want and the tree is now a stump. The tree tells the man that he simply has nothing left for the man and the man said that he is too old to want anything from the tree-he is just tired and needs a quiet place to sit,
Guess who provided a place for the man to sit and at the end was happy?
Such a beautiful, beautiful story about kindness, giving, and unselfishness! There is nothing negative to say about this classic tale!
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The Giving Tree HarperCollins Purchased at: gift Price: gift
Oh what a lovely story. I can see why you love it so much. What a great sacrifice the tree has made for the man in the end. It brought tears to my eyes!
This was one of the very first books I brought my son when he was born. I love the story and the message behind the story. Beauitful book
This is such a wonderful book! What a touching story about your son too! Thanks for sharing!
What a beautiful story about unselfish love and giving. I am sure that your little boy understands it in his heart.
This is a lovely story. I am glad your son enjoys your time together reading it.
Classic book with a beautiful message. I'm sure that Zachary "hears" the message.
This is a great book for both kids and adults.
It sounds wonderful! And I can see you shining through your words! I'll have to find this for my new great-niece, who's due in about 3 weeks now! Thank you for sharing this wonderful book!
Thank you. It looks like a timeless story for children.