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4.29 AVERAGE
4.29 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love the poetry of Shel Silverstein to this day, but I still hate this book. I can still recall it being read to me as a child in the school library, and despising the message it gave as a young girl, watching women/the tree give everything with no boundaries to a boy who grows into a man who arguably did not appreciate the tree as he ought. And then what does he do? He sits on her, after degrading her into a stump. Absurd! The awful feeling it gave me then still creeps up on me sometimes when I see the book celebrated, and while many may find me daft for having such strong feelings about a picture book, I respect the disdain my younger self instinctively harbored for this book. The only comforting thing as an adult, is knowing that trees can rebirth themselves in myriads of ways.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
When you love, you give and you do it easily. When you love someone giving is natural because you want that person happy and in this case, the tree was happy to make the boy, now man, comfortable. She gave him a starter with financial stability and he left her for a long time with no communication and only came back when life was difficult for him. Which is understandable and I love the way this was portrayed, love is giving.
Adults need to read children's books more than children. There's a lesson in every boom sure. But books like these are just magic. Magic in the pages that takes you back to when you played under the shade of your favorite tree. I'd love to read this to my daughter every night. This book introduces the concept of unconditional love... And that's a lesson everyone needs to learn.. to be giving like the tree. To be open. To just love. And to know that it's ok.
A good and simple book with a great lesson! My daughter who's 5 made me read it to her every night for like 2 weeks straight.
I didn't read this when I was a kid, but I recently had to read it out loud to a 3rd class I was subbing. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?? This book was depressing as hell. I don't like it. I almost started crying in the damn classroom. Wtf? Not a fan. I'm sure there is some moral to the book, but I don't care *throws temper tantrum*