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Loading... The Giving Tree (original 1964; edition 1964)by Shel Silverstein (Author)This is a beautiful book. Teachers and parents can use this book to teach so many things... friendship, kindness, stewardship, character traits, inferencing...etc. I love using this book to spark discussions about enjoying nature as spring arrives. For some lesson ideas: https://www.shelsilverstein.com/learning-resources/ Happy Reading! This book would be good for primary students. I really liked how it touched on themes of giving, kindness through the friendship of a tree and a boy. Every time the boy needed something, the tree would give a part of itself to the boy throughout his life until he grew old when the only thing the tree could give was its stump as a seat. I think that this is an important book for students to read for them to understand what it means to be generous. This book would be great for Primary and Intermediate levels. It is about a child growing up and spending his time by the tree. It goes through different stages of life and societal importances within those stages This would be helpful for children starting to read because there are not a ton of words on the pages, or could be used at an older age group to expand thinking on life. This is tough because I've loved this book since I was little, but the adult me finds it a little disturbing. As a child I think I loved it so much because it reassured me that my parents loved me enough to do anything for me. I guess I didn't register the part about the boy never giving back to the tree, which is the part that now makes me cringe. Still, it's a powerful little book. I think it's a good one to share with little kids if you have time to talk about it afterwards. I remember reading this story as a child, and feeling both happy for the tree at the end and puzzled about the tree's relationship to the boy. I disliked that selfish boy who seemed to only take and never feel the slightest gratitude for the tree's sacrifices. Re-reading this as an adult, I suppose I can understand the sort of helpless, unconditional love that would make up the Giving Tree, but I still heartily dislike that boy, and wish the tree would realize it could have give the boy its love without enabling him to be such a selfish a**hole. The book tells us a story where the boy takes everything the tree has, but we also can read that the tree overgives until it had nothing left. The boy grows old and after everything he has taken, he finally realizes the tree's worth. The tree was also very reliable because the boy kept going back. This book would be fun to have in a middle grades classroom because it shares the importance of giving and receiving. As teachers, we could tie this into a lesson about money or balancing equations, because we want students to learn to keep an equation balanced. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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But the boy grew older and wanted more and more. Could the tree keep him happy?
A gentle tale for young readers about love, about giving, about the way to treat others. “The Giving Tree” is an allegorical tale of poor choices, a parable about love and giving and a lesson learned.
On one level, the boy [who grows up to be particularly selfish for most of his adult life] wants and wants and wants. And the tree gives and gives and gives. On another level, the tree [who gives and gives and gives until there is almost nothing left to give] never stops being happy at being able to help the boy.
Clearly, this gentle parable provides parents with an opportunity to discuss self-centeredness and altruism with young readers. Profoundly sad, profoundly hopeful, profoundly loving.
Highly recommended. ( )