✦Shel Silverstein · Reading companion
The Giving Tree
Read your copy together, then make space for different thoughts about care, gratitude, and needs.
A book to read together
The Giving Tree
Original prompts to use with your copy.
The Giving Tree is a picture book by Shel Silverstein. Bring a family or library copy and use this original Curiosi guide to talk about giving, receiving, and caring for one another. Readers may have different feelings about the book, and the conversation can make room for those differences.
Begin with a question
Before reading, ask what it means to care for someone. Invite an example that does not involve buying a present, such as listening or helping with a small task. Then look at the cover. Ask what the child wonders about the title. Keep the question open; there is no need to predict a single message.
Notice needs and requests
While reading your copy, pause at a request that interests the child. Ask what each character might want or need at that moment. Look together for a picture or action that helps explain their answers. Try naming more than one feeling. A reader can care about both characters while questioning a choice either one makes.
Compare your responses
After reading, let each person describe their response before discussing it. Ask which part they would like to understand better and why. Explore how gratitude, asking for help, and considering someone else’s needs can fit into a caring relationship. Invite the child to imagine a respectful conversation between two people who need different things.
Draw care going both ways
On a sheet of paper, draw two large circles with arrows between them. Label one “care I can offer” and the other “care I can ask for.” Add small examples that suit your family or classroom. Read the arrows in both directions. Choose one achievable act of care to try, then discuss how it felt afterward.
Your turn to read
Keep the conversation going
There is no single right answer. Invite young readers to notice, wonder and imagine.
What did you notice about each character’s needs?
Which choice would you like to discuss further?
What could a conversation about care sound like?
Make something: Create two small paper leaves. On one write or draw something you can offer; on the other, something you can ask for. Put them together as a reminder that everyone can need care.
