Shrill Travesty

Once upon a time there was a little jerk of a kid who spent his days underneath an oak tree. After one too many bad deeds - throwing acorns at old people, setting fires with the tree's leaves - the kid is carted off (to juvie, one assumes), and the tree is happy. Good things never last, however, and soon the kid is back, now wanting to go to college (which seems questionable, but let's not quibble). Demanding some apples, the kid is met with incredulous denial: "I'm an oak tree. I can't grow show more apples. When have you ever seen me grow apples...Is there even a college that takes apples as tuition?" And so it goes, as the boy continues to exploit the tree, at every stage of his life (when not in prison). In final a insult, the kid (now an old man) takes a chain-saw to his arboreal "friend," but it isn't the tree alone that faces the consequence...

From start to finish, from front-jacket-blurb to back, I found The Taking Tree: A Selfish Parody hilarious. Taking Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree as a starting point, 'Shrill Travesty' creates a marvelously satirical tale that pokes fun at just about everything in that classic but much-debated original book. Every aspect of the story is up for grabs, as the general premise (tree gives everything to boy) and specific incidents (the coming and going of the boy over the years) are ruthlessly and effectively parodied. Even the handling of the author photo itself (which has been withheld here by popular request, because apparently it "has terrified more children than the bogeyman") manages to strike a hilarious note. Who hasn't had a discussion of Shel Silverstein's photo, which I have seen described as 'Satanic?' Absolutely hilarious! Recommended to anyone who hates The Giving Tree, or who loves it but has a sense of humor about it. show less

Thank goodness someone finally got around to taking The Giving Tree down a peg or two. I can't remember a book that has been so widely loved and so severely misread in the history of literature. Everyone loves the fact that this boy takes and takes and takes some more and the tree so graciously, so lovingly, so unthinkingly just gives every last piece of itself to the boy to give him a little happiness. Who taught the boy the value of respect for others? No one. And yet everyone I ask is show more just in love with the book. Something's seriously wrong with that. This is kind of taking the book in the exact opposite direction, but it was just so perfect in that regard. With its final action, the tree finally manages to kill the boy back after everything the little monster put the tree through over the course of a lifetime. Wonderful! Way to go tree! show less

For those who loved The Giving Tree, do not fear. As with most parody, this will only be "funny" for a short period of time; there is much in here that, if it isn't already (and I say it is), will become dated very quickly (eg, a reference to the US 2008 election).

It seems to be a trend nowadays to trash Shel Silverstein's classic children's book (hence we just so happen to now have The Taking Tree, to squeeze a few bucks out of that, no doubt). I have the impression it's more cool to show more assume kids are complete suckers who have no capacity for nuanced thinking or complex reading, and that all who are exposed to The Giving Tree will grow up to be doormats at best, battered spouses at worst. Come on. Just because they're small does not mean children cannot recognise selfishness, have conflicted sympathies, or feel empathy. And certainly they can cope with stories that encourage a good, hard philosophical think. I used to feel so sorry for the tree I cried. I did not grow up to let people push me around, but I do feel strongly that nurturing kindness, loyalty to friends, and selflessness is good, but that one should be careful to retain limits and maintain balance. Letting another take advantage to your own detriment is pitiful. Or how about this: even when you think you have nothing, with a little creative thinking, you can always come up with what you need. Oh yeah, I'm also an environmentalist. It's probably safe to blame Shel for all such of my horrible qualities.

Another trend nowadays is to claim to be victimised by everything, as if American children are such delicate little snowflakes that their fragile minds can be wrecked far into adulthood by a single storybook. Again, come on. Take some responsibility here, if The Giving Tree was able to so threaten your ability to retain personal integrity, maybe you were just a dumb kid?

As I read through some reviews of The Taking Tree, I guess I am most saddened that Silverstein's book about kindness, loyalty and giving arouses so much passionate negativity, words like "hate", "loathe" and "despise". Maybe Shel just gave too many people too much credit. Maybe American kids are just hopeless and mean.

All that said, The Taking Tree was to me still kinda funny. I think it's an incredibly bad move on Simon & Schuster's part, however, to market this to young readers. The drawings have only limited appeal, and neither they nor the text lend well to repeat exposure. A young reader would have to have formed a sophisticated critique of The Giving Tree in order to appreciate a parody of it, and frankly, I just don't think the humour is for kids at all. I am very definitely not saying at all that they are going to run out and burn their school down just because they saw it in this book (remember, I'm not the one who thinks kids are dumb little puppets), I just don't think they're going to get jokes about things like business corruption and insurance fraud. show less

Really, really funny. Especially if you, like me, hate [b:The Giving Tree|370493|The Giving Tree|Shel Silverstein|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174210942s/370493.jpg|30530] with all your heart.

It's a one-trick-pony, this book, and it only exists to mock Uncle Shelby. The end is brilliant. The illustrations are adequate but not stellar.

Worth reading if you're a cranky old curmudgeon.