I read Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" for the first time tonight, and was so shocked by the story! The boy just takes and takes from the tree... it was such a heartbreaking story to me. Here it is on YouTube, read by ol' Shel himself:

I hopped online after the kids were down and apparently people respond to the story very differently. Here are some of the interpretations, paraphrased from Wikipedia:

<< 1. The tree represents God or Jesus and the boy represents humankind. Some people believe that the tree represents "the Christian ideal of unconditional love."
2. The tree represents Mother Nature and the boy represents humankind. Some people believe that the book is an "allegory about the responsibilities a human being has for living organisms in the environment," that is, as a "what-not-to-do role model."
3. The tree and the boy are friends (i.e., "the message of the tale is seen as a relation between adults"). The book teaches children "as your life becomes polluted with the trappings of the modern world — as you 'grow up' — your relationships tend to suffer if you let them fall to the wayside."
4. The tree and the boy have a parent-child relationship. The story "perpetuates the myth of the selfless, all-giving mother who exists only to be used and the image of a male child who can offer no reciprocity, express no gratitude, feel no empathy — an insatiable creature who encounters no limits for his demands." >>

I viewed it differently, as 5. a dysfunctional emotionally-abusive relationship, where one person just selfishly takes and takes from another - and the other is too codependent to even realize what is going on. Haha maybe I'm projecting some people from my life onto a children's book. It seems like lots of people do that - there are dozens of fervent explanations online about what people think the book is about.

Anyway, what do you think of The Giving Tree... just a fun children's book? The saddest book you've ever read?