"The Giving Tree" book -- what am I supposed to make of this?

[Anonymous]

my kids are 6 and 4 i haven't read them the book...not out of any moral standing, but we just don't have it in our library for some reason. i have read them "i love you forever" just a few times and neither of them took to it. thank GOD. what a creepy book!

OP, why don't you ask your DS why he likes the book. it would be interesting to hear what he has to say about it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 on the rainbow fish.

I hate The Rainbow Fish too. Pretty pictures, but NO!!!! to the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to hide this book from my kids because I would sob in the bathroom every damn time after reading it.

The old tree giving selflessly, the man coming back to die, I can't even. It kills me.

Me too. My 6 year old would choose it on purpose because he thought it was so ridiculous that I would cry over it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you this now because I've come to terms with my limitations. But I've always wanted to write "The Taking Stream," wherein the little boy swims and fishes in the stream, then eventually builds a factory next to his beloved stream, then the factory spills sludge into the stream, and finally the stream gets sick of it all and floods the factory and drowns the boy.

I would read that book.

Have you read the Lorax? Similar concept. Also depressing and my 2.5 YO loves that book.

[Anonymous]

Oh, Rainbow Fish is the worst! We call it the socialism book at our house. When my kids were younger, they were attracted to the pretty cover and thought I was reading too much into it. Now that they are older, they get why I thought the message of that book was totally inappropriate for little kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you this now because I've come to terms with my limitations. But I've always wanted to write "The Taking Stream," wherein the little boy swims and fishes in the stream, then eventually builds a factory next to his beloved stream, then the factory spills sludge into the stream, and finally the stream gets sick of it all and floods the factory and drowns the boy.

I would read that book.

Have you read the Lorax? Similar concept. Also depressing and my 2.5 YO loves that book.

Yes but l like the message at the end of the lorax "unless someone like you cares an awful lot..." the giving tree is just plain depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, Rainbow Fish is the worst! We call it the socialism book at our house. When my kids were younger, they were attracted to the pretty cover and thought I was reading too much into it. Now that they are older, they get why I thought the message of that book was totally inappropriate for little kids.

So when the rainbow fish uses its fancy scales to buy "friends", that's analogous to the state government nationalizing the means of production? I didn't know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, Rainbow Fish is the worst! We call it the socialism book at our house. When my kids were younger, they were attracted to the pretty cover and thought I was reading too much into it. Now that they are older, they get why I thought the message of that book was totally inappropriate for little kids.

Ha! We call it the communist book at our house.

[Anonymous]

Seems like the fish was bullied into doing something he didn't want to do. To be sure, the fish seems a bit vain and clueless, but ... what an odd story. Had never heard of it before.

[Anonymous]

The Giving Tree is the first book I bought for my then unborn son. I see it as a parent/child relationship in that the tree was always there for the boy no matter how old he was.

[Anonymous]

Love "The Taking Stream." I would buy that.

Also agree that it's funny that schools and preschools always read Rainbow Fish, while talking constantly about bullying. That book is pro-bullying!

I remember loving The Giving Tree as a child but DH hates that book so I hadn't read it in a while. I don't even remember the last time I read it to my kids, and this thread made me curious as to what their reaction would be. So I pulled it out and asked the 5 yo if he would like me to read it. And he said, "Not that book. That book makes me cry."

Then the 3 yo wanted to hear it, of course, and when the boy cut off the trees branches, her eyes got super wide and filled with tears. At the end of the book, she asked in a tremulous voice, "Is the tree *really* happy?" and I said, "What do you think? Would you be happy if you were the tree?" Pause. Normal voice, "Yes!"

Then she calls out to her brother, "Does that book make you cry? When the boy cuts off the branches --"

"Stop talking about it! You're going to make me cry!"

"Well, it doesn't make *me* cry."

LOL, these kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 on the rainbow fish.

Yeah, the Rainbow Fish is truly the worst. I won't read it to my kids.

[Anonymous]

it's a Christian allegory. God is the martyr-parent. Boy is sinner/prodigal son/humanity.

I loved this book as a little girl and actually became very enamoured of this book again when I was a teenager, wrote some papers on it, and so on. It seems sadder to me reading it again as an adult. but hell, so does the Bible.

but I Love You Forever IS TOTALLY CREEPY.

[Anonymous]

Feminists also hate The Giving Tree because it's seen as a story about how moms should always sacrifice themselves and their own desires for their children and their families. Poor old put upon mom just keeps giving and giving and never keeping score and meanwhile she gets taken advantage of.

I hate the Rainbow Fish because the idea is that if someone is special they should be ashamed of that and instead should downplay their specialness so that everyone is average and the same and equal. Telling your kids to hide their scales is like telling them to sit quietly in school and not act smart because it will piss off their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which is creepier, "The Giving Tree" or "I Will Love You Forever"?

Both are SO creepy and I hate them both, but the last one makes me cry each time I read it.