Interestingly enough, Silverstein and Sendak shared the same editor, Ursula Nordstrom, and it was Nordstrom that pushed to allow these defiers of the typical rules of children's books (kids that behave well, happy endings) to have their tales published as they were. As Silverstein put it, "The child asks, 'Why don't I have this happiness thing you're telling me about?' and comes to think when his joy stops that he has failed, that it won't come back" ( source). He found them unrealistic and thought that seeing everything turn out perfectly in the end gave kids a false sense of how life was supposed to be. Turns out Silverstein-like Maurice Sendak, another of our favorite picture book authors-wasn't a big fan of happy endings. Some people might be inclined to paint the final frame as a relatively happy conclusion or, at least, call the story bittersweet, but Silverstein himself saw the book as having a sad ending, which is part of the reason it took him four years to get it published ( source). The book's ending, as it turns out, is just as controversial as the rest of the story. In the story, a tree who loves a boy gives up everything-her fruit, her limbs, her trunk-to make the boy happy.
It tends to elicit strong reactions from readers, with most people either loving or hating the book, and very few falling in between those two extremes. Originally published in 1964, The Giving Tree has been categorized as heartwarming, sexist, instructive, satirical, and horrifying…among other things.
By the end of the book, there's not a lot left of the eponymous tree, and that's one reason this tale has kept people debating its themes and symbolism for more than 50 years.
In fact, a more accurate title for Shel Silverstein's most famous picture book might be The Sacrificing Stump.
To call the tree in this book "giving" is a bit of an understatement.
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