The Giving Tree (1964)When my Mom got the kids a Shel Silverstein book (Where the Sidewalk Ends), I was a little dubious. Somehow I just thought he'd be a little too cutesy, but it turned out to be pretty good and the kids liked it a lot. I like the way he often riffs off of classic styles and themes, as in the nearly Mother Gooseian: Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle
Me too
Ickle was captain, and Pickle
was crew
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle
Me too,
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle
too
And many of them are just really funny, like: Smart My dad gave me one dollar
bill
And then I took the quarters
Just then, along came old
blind Bates
And I took the nickels to
Hiram Coombs
And then I went and showed
my dad,
Our son Griffin (age 3) loves: Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
We just hope that the surreptitious message is actually sinking in. And if getting to the good stuff means tolerating the saccharine sentiment of poems like this one: Hug O' War I will not play at tug o'
war.
that seems like a small price to pay, and one you come to expect in the increasingly politically correct world of children's literature. It's kind of like how you have to wade through the Star-Bellied Sneeches to get to The Grinch. What I did not realize at the time was that Silverstein had also written two of the great Country novelty tunes of all time--Johnny Cash's: A Boy Named Sue My daddy left home when I was three,
Well, he must o' thought that is was quite a joke,
Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
Well, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes,
I tell ya, I've fought tougher men,
And he said: "Son, this world is rough,
He said: "Now you just fought one hell of a fight,
I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
and the immortal: Put Another Log On the Fire
Put another log on the fire,
Come on, Baby, you can fill my pipe,
Now don't I let you wash the car on Sunday?
Ain't I always nice to your kid sister?
Come on, Baby, you can fill my pipe,
So I realized I was already, albeit unwittingly, at least a mild fan of his work. Then recently to my pleasant surprise I found a copy of The Giving Tree for a quarter at the local library book sale. I brought it home & showed my wife and she said: "I can't believe you got that book, it's so sad". I'll admit I may have scoffed a little. Then I read it and darn near found my eyes growing moist. I just felt so sorry for the tree that I wanted to pistol whip that selfish, acquisitive kid/man. Which brings us to the question: Is it possible that this slender children's book is one of the most insightful comments ever written on the "Me" generation? This may strike you as absurd, but take a look at the First Things Symopsium about the book that I found online. For my own part, I read the book as a tragedy, and despite my initial reaction, the boy/man strikes me as the tragic figure. He is completely consumed by selfish concerns and what he can get from the tree. The story could equally well be called The Taking Boy. And in the twilight of his life, what does he have left after taking and taking and taking? Nothing. In fact, he has to return to the tree and ask for more. The final scene seems less of a "reconciliation" than one more desperate act of selfish consumption on his part. It reminded me of Citizen Kane, with Charles Foster Kane looking back at his life from his death bed and realizing how unfulfilled he is. Silverstein was just a tad older than the Baby Boomers, but his status as a pop icon rested on their enthusiasm. So it's ironic that they made him a best-selling author by blindly reading this truly devastating critique of their cohort and their lifestyle to their kids. Ironic, but delicious. Dorothy C. Judd's review: Like many "children's" picture books, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein can be read at a variety of levels. For the younger child, it is an interesting story in which a boy has a relationship with a tree. It appeals to the child for its basic langauge, its repetitive pattern, and its line drawings. An older child may see the story as sad, even poignant. For the adult, it can be an allegory of aging. In the beginning, the boy enjoys the simple pleasures of life the tree provides. Then the boy begins to seek material goods, and each time the tree obliges, driving the human and the tree farther and farther apart. When the tree ostensibily has nothing left to give, both the tree and the now old man enjoy quiet reflection and companionship. Depending upon the reader's inclination, the tree can represent a parent, the universe itself, a Higher Spirit. Stretched to the limit, one can compare the Giving Tree to the Tree of Life which can satisfy while one is still in a state of innocence (the Garden of Eden) which one abandons as one becomes more and more enamored of the material world. Finally, though, Silverstein portrays a reconciliation. GRADE: B+ (Reviewed:) Grade: (A+) Tweet Websites:-OBIT: Versed in the Language of Life Poet Silverstein moved kids, adults (Suzanne Curley, 5/12/99, Newsday) -TRIBUTE: Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky celebrates the poetry of the late Shel Silverstein (Online Newshour, PBS) -TRIBUTE: Fare Thee Well, Shel (Kate Marley) -TRIBUTE: Commentary on Shel Silverstein (Bob Lochte) -American Academy of Poets Shel Silverstein Page -Shel Silverstein -SHEL SILVERSTEIN (1930-1999) Collected Information by Sely Friday -The many, multiple, magnetic, magnificent, macabre, mad, mocking, magical, monumental, and memorable Messages of Shel Silverstein -poems & drawings by Shel Silverstein -Shel Silverstein's poetry -The Shel Silverstein Archive -Harper Childrens: Shel Silverstein 1930-1999 -Jamie's My Page on Shel Silverstein -Shel Silverstein (Ugh!) -Shel Silverstein (Katina) -The Sidewalk Ends (Brooke Williams) -Banned Width: The Adult Works of shel silverstein -LYRICS: (from Banned Width) -Shel Silverstein Discography Compiled by Rob Killam -Songs of Shel Silverstein (More Things) -SONG: Put Another Log On the Fire By Shel Silverstein -AUDIO: Morgo's Media Menu: Rare Shel Silverstein LPs in RealAudio Format -AUDIO: MP3 of Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out -AUDIO: Cory Larson-Thomas reading poems by Shel Silverstein--Recorded July 6, 1999 during OpenMike Poetry night -SHOCKWAVE: of Uncle Shelby's ABZ's Book -LINKS: Shel Silverstein (1932-1999) -LINKS: Silverstein, Shel Web sites (Go Network) -BULLETIN BOARD: The Shel Silverstein Fan Board -Fuller Up The Dead Musician Director: Shel Silverstein -TEACHERS GUIDE: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein -TEACHERS GUIDE: Poetry for the Elementary Classroom Grades 3-4; language arts (Francis J. Degnan. From Yale New Haven Lesson Plans) -TEACHERS GUIDE: Shel Silverstein. Literature Focus Unit 3rd grade; from Washington State University -TEACHERS GUIDE: Trees, Trees, Trees!!!! Lesson Plan. Grades 2-5. By Vicki Vrooman. From ERIC -COMPUTER EXERCISE: Revision Exercise #1: The Meaning of Shel Silverstein (Joyce R. Walker) -Dennis Locorriere: The Voice of Dr. Hook -Official Old Dogs Webpage -ARTICLE: Behind the Best Sellers; SHEL SILVERSTEIN (Edwin McDowell, NY Times) -ARTICLE: 'A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC' SETS BEST SELLER RECORD (EDWIN McDOWELL, NY Times) -ESSAY: CHILDREN'S BOOKS; THE LIGHT IN HIS ATTIC (Myra Cohn Livingston, NY times Book Review) -ESSAY: A boy named Shel: A member of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show recalls Shel Silverstein's wicked ways with songs and women (RIK ELSWIT, Salon) -ARTICLE: Bobby bares his soul: Son of music star has a hit with cheatin', hurtin' and rockin' style (MIKE ROSS, Express) -ETEXT: The Giving Tree (first Things) -SYMPOSIUM: The Giving Tree: A Symposium (First Things, January 1995) -REVIEW: of Light in the Attic (X. J. Kennedy, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: of FALLING UP Poems and Drawings. By Shel Silverstein (Judy Zuckerman, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: of Falling Up, by Shel Silverstein (Rachel Nichols, Bryn Mawr School's Student Newspaper) -REVIEW: of THE MISSING P IECE MEETS THE BIG O By Shel Silverstein (JOYCE MILTON, NY Times Book Review) GENERAL:
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