The Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein
Illustrated by Shel Silverstein
Reviewed by Claryce G. (age 8)
Claryce G. is a member in The Technology and Learning Center @ the Armory's PAL/CSD 6 Summer Camp III (1999-2000)
Once there was a tree and every day a little boy would sleep under it in the shade. The boy loved the tree and he would eat the apples from the tree. He also loved to swing on the branches. He would gather leaves from the tree and he would make them into a crown and he would put the crown on his head and pretend that he was a king. The boy and the tree loved each other a lot. The boy gets older and he doesn't visit the tree that much. One day the boy comes to visit the tree and the tree tells him to climb her trunk and swing from her branches. But the boy tells her that he is too big and old to play with the tree. The boy wants money to buy things. The tree tells him that she does not have money but she has leaves and apples. He can sell the apples and make money. The boy does that and gets money to buy things. Then the boy wants a house, a wife and children. The tree cannot give him a house but she can give him branches to build a house. So the boy cuts off the branches and builds his house. And both of them were happy. As the boy gets older, he wants more things. See how the tree still helps him out and is still happy by reading the book
This is my favorite book because a boy and a tree loved each other. The boy and the tree loved each other because the boy would climb up the tree's trunk and swing on her branches and eat apples from the tree. The tree liked this because she now had a friend. My favorite part was when the boy makes a crown out of the leaves from the tree and makes believe he is a king. I think he looks funny with the crown on.
I recommend this book to my mother because I love my mother and my mother loves me too, just like the boy and the tree love each other in the book. Other people who have a really strong friendship with someone and love that person would like this book too.