Wow! I never read any of this into The Giving Tree. I always loved it. As a teacher, I did not read it to younger kids but 4th and 5th graders enjoyed talking about it as parable. We loved thinking about what it all meant. I always thought it meant that the tree was just always there for the boy, no matter how selfish the boy grew up to be. Like a wonderful grandparent. I took it as a lesson to not take things for granted. But, I have also read that it is a parable, telling us that sometimes, no matter what we do, not all of our love will be returned. Sometimes, it is wonderful to just give. Trees give us so much and many people give nothing back to them. I have a cedar tree in my yard that I love passionately in no small part because of the message of this book. This is a complicated story, not one young children can understand. It is strange that a preschool would have it. I can see that some would find it offensive that there is a female giving to a male who does not appreciate her but then again in 1964 that was a pretty common thing.
Did you know that Shel Silverstein was also a playwright and song writer? He wrote "A boy named Sue" for Johnny Cash. He wrote plays with David Mamet.
I will say that Mr. Silverstein was a very scary looking fellow!
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