Will I love The Giving Tree?

This beloved classic teaches that love isn’t always tidy—it can be joyful, painful, generous, and oftentimes involve giving up something of yourself. Silverstein’s approach is simple: clarity and warmth without clutter.

I love this book for helping kids see that it’s okay to feel mixed emotions in relationships—that giving, receiving, and sometimes letting go are all part of caring. It models graceful empathy and shows children that feeling sad or giving more does not mean loving less. It also teaches the power of unconditional love and teaches the joy of giving. Trees are magical teachers!

I wasn’t the strongest reader as a child, but the simple, wavy line drawings drew me in. They told the story just as well as the words, and the level of emotion behind them brings me back every time.

The book’s profound message of what “giving” is, together with the passage of time and the bond between the two characters, is not only intriguing for all ages, but demonstrates what love, kindness, and simple friendship mean. Everything about it marked me and created a long-standing change in my thinking.

This book makes you think. Is it about greed? Unconditional love? The relationship between the natural world and humans?

Whatever you get from this book it serves as a reminder about how much trees give us but also flags up the importance of kindness (and balance). Do you balance giving with taking? What could you give more of? Your time? Your love? Your money? Your care? Your voice?

If someone is kind to you, always try to pay it forward? Are you balancing how kind you are to others with how kind you are to yourself? Self-care isn't selfish. Self-care… show more.

The message of this story is that love is so deep that it endures even well past what seemingly is the capacity to give love. This book is a true metaphor for the enduring power of love. No matter how much time passes, the tree gives love freely and unconditionally. 

Like my book, this is a story about two characters who are different and have a creative and unique relationship. Although the tree and the “boy” are different, they share a bond that lasts a lifetime. The enduring devotion and connection that the tree expresses to the “boy” strike at the heart of the meaning of friendship and love. It’s hard to read this book and not feel moved by it.

The pure poetry of the story - not the words themselves, which are poetic as well, but the story - always hits me emotionally when I read this book, often evoking tears. In the book, The Giving Tree is completely selfless, giving all the time; even when it is not the best thing to do, and yet she gets nothing in return. The character of the Tree is a poignant view of human existence, elucidating how we are happiest when we give, and how we remain ever hopeful, despite all appearances. The Tree also evokes a warning of the dangers… show more.