Come boy.
Come sit down.
Sit down and rest.
And the boy did.
And the tree was happy.
Because it stuck a huge splinter in the boy’s ass and he died of septicemia.
I know nothing of the sort. I know that he hated most children’s literature, and I agree with him to a certain extent on that. There’s nothing in his work or biography that suggests to me he doesn’t like kids.
A couple of weeks ago, something reminded me of this book, and it occurred to me that it might be fun to rewrite it to depict a mutually beneficial relationship instead. I’d gone from seeing it as a one-sided relationship that the tree was happy with and isn’t that wonderful? to interpreting it as a justification for exploitation. I checked out the book and looked over it once again, and this time, over 40 years after I first read it, I saw it as a melancholy depiction of a mutually destructive relationship.
I always wondered how Silverstein, whose poems and songs I’ve so often admired, could write such a distasteful story, but now I see that he’s pulled off the ingenious trick of making me think I’m thinking to distract me from the fact that he was actually making me think.
I’m going to go sit on a stump and contemplate that some more…
Also, it is not true Silverstein was childless. He had two children: Shoshanna and Matt. It is true that he wasn’t exactly a model father, though.
An unsourced, random quote in Salon proves nothing to me. My impression is that Silverstein didn’t have much patience for anyone and was a free spirit. I never got any indication that he didn’t like children in particular, and, in fact, in his writings I think he treated children with more respect than most children’s authors.
Hey, I’ve happily read books by authours who hated people generally. 
The interesting thing I’m finding is that my favorite children’s authors (Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak) are all described at some point as not liking children. The best I could find of any of these authors in their own words, is in a Colbert report interview, where Sendak says “I like them as few and far between as I do adults — maybe a bit more, because I really don’t like adults at all.” I imagine Silverstein being in this mold, but maybe I’m wrong. (Not that it matters to me; the work is still exemplary, even if “The Giving Tree” is not my favorite work of his.) I’d be interested in finding a first-hand quote of somebody describing his distaste towards children, not a repeated notion that he didn’t like kids, as if that’s a fact everyone knows.
Personally, I thing Silverstein’s masterpiece was Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book. It’s hilarious and should on no account be given to a small child.
It includes instructions on how to make a voodoo doll of your teacher, a “coupon” for a free pony, and truly great ABZ entries, like:
Silverstein once said, “Don’t be dependent on anyone else—man, woman, child, or dog. I want to go everywhere, look at and listen to everything. You can go crazy with some of the wonderful stuff there is in life.”
I didn’t see where he said he liked children, but I think it was a rival publication mentioned this—rhymes with “Gentle Gloss.”
Yes, that’s one of his more famous quotes, and is congruent with what my impression of him is, and with what I’ve been stating so far.
Scupper - Yep, that’s my favorite one, too. It’s also one of Silverstein’s favorites.
Is that what passes as a cite these days?
“Some guy said so.”
Too funny! But yeah, not one I’d give a child.
Not surprising; try googling “The Taking Boy” and you’ll see many folks have independently come up with it. The youtube video that comes up as the first hit is hilarious.
These puns are way too mulch!
I…um…speaking of analogies that get lost somewhere.
I always thought the point was that unconditional love is not easy. I’m not a Christian, but when it says in the Bible that if someone strikes you on the cheek, you should offer him the other cheek instead – that’s not an easy thing to do and the intended message is not “people who hit you on the cheek are jerks”.
Nitpick: You should offer the other cheek also, not instead.
As I understand it.
deviate!
It is an almost universally misunderstood quote. The other cheek it suggests isn’t the one on your face.