by Shel Silverstein (1964)
While I may not believe in the religious specifics of the holiday, it’s the spirit that moves me: love, kindness, giving… and no book tells the story of selflessness better than The Giving Tree. Like all of Silverstein’s books that played a large formative part in my younger days, it’s a seemingly simple book expressing complex things with quirky line drawings to match.
I remember the book as a very touching one, but as an adult I also find it as quietly sad as it is lovely. The unclear point of view (is self sacrifice a good or bad thing? is the boy bad in all his demands?) leaves many readers at the very least confused and sometimes up in arms with words of controversy.
But what do you think?