The Giving Tree

As Literacy Week continues, my students are actually starting to get more excited about reading. Today, I brought back all the Dr. Seuss books that I had in class yesterday and they were dying to read them. I even had kids sneaking them under their desks trying to read them in their lap instead of doing their classwork. Obviously, I was not pleased that these students were off task, but at least they were reading :)

My read-aloud book today was "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. I really liked Shel Silverstein books when I was a kid and I think that this book has a very simple, yet important message for anyone no matter what age. After reading the book, we had a riveting discussion about the lesson to be learned from this book. It was interesting to hear what my students had to say about the book. The responses I got from them were a lot like what I remember my own response to be when I first read this book in elementary school. It is fun to read a book like this again as an adult because your perception of the book, and of life, has changed so much.

I highly recommend that everyone reads this book. If you have never read it, or if it has been a long time since you last read it; pick it up and read it again. Since I know that everyone has busy lives and doesn't have time to go pick up a copy of the book, I have pasted a copy of the book below for you. So now you have no excuse for not reading it :) Enjoy!

The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein

Once there was a tree...
and she loved a little boy.
And every day the boy would come
and he would gather her leaves
and make them into crowns and play king of the forest.
He would climb up her trunk
and swing from her branches
and eat apples.
And they would play hide-and-go-seek.
And when he was tired, he would sleep in her shade.
And the boy loved the tree...
very much.
And the tree was happy.

But time went by.
And the boy grew older.
And the tree was often alone.

Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy."
"I am too big to climb and play," said the boy.
"I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?"
"I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I have no money. I only have leaves and apples. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy."

And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.
And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time...and the tree was sad. And then one day the boy came back and the tree shook with joy and she said, "Come, Boy, climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and be happy."
"I am too busy to climb trees," said the boy.
"I want a house to keep me warm," he said. "I want a wife and I want children, and so I need a house. Can you give me a house?"
"I have no house," said the tree. "The forest is my house, but you may cut off my branches and build a house. Then you will be happy."

And so the boy cut off her branches and carried them away to build his house.
And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away for a long time. And when he came back, the tree was so happy she could hardly speak.
"Come, Boy," she whispered, "come and play."
"I am too old and sad to play," said the boy. "I want a boat that will take me far away from here. Can you give me a boat?"
"Cut down my trunk and make a boat," said the tree. "Then you can sail away...and be happy."

And so the boy cut down her trunk
and made a boat and sailed away.
And the tree was happy...
but not really.

And after a long time the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy," said the tree, "but I have nothing left to give you - my apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone," said the tree. "You cannot swing on them."
"I am too old to swing on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone," said the tree. "You cannot climb..."
"I am too tired to climb," said the boy.
"I wish that I could give you something...but I have nothing left. I am just an old stump. I am sorry..."

"I don't need very much now," said the boy, "just a quiet place to sit and rest. I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Boy, sit down. Sit down and rest."

And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.

The End 


When I finished reading this book to one of my classes today, one of my students raised his hand and said, "All that little boy wanted was stuff and all the tree wanted was for the boy to be happy, I think we should all be more like the tree." In education, we call that a teachable moment :)