The Giving Tree

[prog]

Via jadelennox, I learn that The Giving Tree, one of my beloved books from childhood, has a great deal of controversy around it and is actually reviled by some children's literature scholars, herself included.

I find the controversy both surprising and interesting, but I think this is the first time I've seen a book I hold so dear (there are very few) get attacked like this. I put up a little defense for it in that thread, but seeing all the other commenters pour righteous scorn on it makes me feel queasy, as if all these people were rushing in to talk about how my Aunt Jan was actually a pirate who molested them as children or something. Bad news.

Comments

[kahuna-burger.livejournal.com]

Well there is a certain... user feel to the boy when you read it as an adult. At first he loves the tree as herself, but as the story progresses its all about what she can do for him. Never what he can do for her, which at first is only give her love, but later there isn't even any real show of gratitude. The happy ending is that she has one more thing to give to him, and that makes her feel good, not that he ever returns anything.

Not to say that I don't still have a soft spot for the book, but its a soft spot that wars with my intellect. Like listening to Angel in the Centerfold and having my enjopyment of the song occasionally intruded on by thinking about the lyrics.