The Giving Tree is a classic & moving story by Shel Silverstein Once there was a little tree & she loved a little boy So begins a story of unforgettable perception beautifully written & illustrated by the gifted & versatile Shel Silverstein Every day the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples swing from her branches or slide down her trunk & the tree was happy But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree & the tree gave & gave & gave This is a tender story touched with sadness aglow with consolation Shel Silverstein has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving & a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return Shel Silverstein's very first children's book Lafcadio the Lion Who Shot Back was published in 1963 & followed the next year by two other books The first of those The Giving Tree is a moving story about the love of a tree for a boy; it took four years before Harper Children's books decided to publish it Shel returned to humour that same year with A Giraffe & a Half His first collection of poems & drawings Where the Sidewalk Ends appeared in 1974 & his second A Light in the Attic in 1981 When he was a GI in Japan & Korea in the 1950 he learned to play the guitar & to write songs including 'A Boy Named Sue' for Johnny Cash In 1984 Silverstein won a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for Where the Sidewalk Ends
- 'recited sung & shouted' by the author He was also an accomplished playwright including the 1981 hit ' The Lady or the Tiger Show' The last book to be published before he died in 1999 was Falling Up (1996)