Oi, "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein

       Teaching performance of children's literature to budding teachers for two or three years, I read and re-read this story, hoping to find something different each time, but it always said, "It's all right to take and keep taking, and you never have to give back."

       I once heard "The Giving Tree" used as the backbone of a Jewish Friday service, parts of the story alternating with parts of the service.  In a discussion afterward,  all in the room tacitly accepted that this was a quality story, and my regret to this day is that I did not speak up to express my dismay and anger.  Was the tree's endless giving anything less than the apotheosis of being a "Jewish mother"?  Was the boy's total selfishness anything less than anathema in a Jewish religious setting!!