The+Giving+Tree



Title: The Giving Tree

Author: Shel Silverstein

Publisher: Harper & Row, Publishers

Reading Grade Level: Grade 1 and up

IBS: 06-025665-6

Language: English

Price: Hard Cover: USA $10.75

Summary: //The Giving Tree// is about a relationship between a boy and a tree. When the boy is young and free he comes to the tree to play and eat apples and swing from its branches. As the boy grows older, he finds different uses for the tree, and sees the tree much less often. When the boy needs money, the tree tells the boy to sell her apples. When the boy needs a warm place to put his family, the tree tells the boy to use his branches to build a house. When the boy wants to just leave and go somewhere far away, the tree tells the boy to use its trunk and build a boat. Now the tree was just a small stump with nothing to offer, or so the tree thought. The boy was an old man now, and all he wanted was a place to rest. So in the end, the old man sits on the stump, and the tree was happy.

Review: This book is such a great one, and for all ages. I can still read this book as a college student and thoroughly enjoy the content. It is such a sweet tale of a love between a boy and nature. I think this sends such a great message out there to people about nature and how you have to love nature and respect it. There are not many words on each page, which make it an easy read for all age levels first grade and up. The pictures definitely tell the story just as the words do and they are very detailed pictures. Each time you can tell that something else is missing from the picture. This would be a good class book to read aloud.

Analysis of Literary Elements: In //The Giving Tree// there are a lot of examples of literary elements. What stood out to me in this book were the illustrations. The author does an excellent job portraying the pictures in the book as simple, yet they explain just enough. The writing style is more of a fable because the tree is talking. Fables are when inanimate objects come to life, and the tree is talking to the boy. It does have realistic elements, like the boy sitting on the stump, eating the apples, and swinging on the trees. The unrealistic part of the writing is the boy building the house and boat out of the tree.

About the Author: Shel Silverstein was an American poet, singer-songwriter, cartoonist, and author of children’s books. He wrote and illustrated //The Giving Tree// and did it in such an artful way, yet simple so the children could understand the pictures they were looking at. He was tremendously talented in both writing and illustrating this book, and other books, poems, and pieces. Silverstein died in 1999 from a massive heart attack. He is still known for writing and illustrating //The Giving Tree// which has been translated to many different languages and is widely popular throughout the world.